Take The Pain Away
by Tacpebs
Summary: What would you do if the man of your dreams couldn't seem to pull himself together?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters in this story. They belong to Stephenie Meyer.

**Warning: **Contains attempted suicide. Please do not read if you are not comfortable with such acts. Please do no attempt the actions of this story yourself. If you or someone you know suffers with thoughts of suicide, seek help immediately. Before it's too late.

**Summary: **What would you do if the man of your dreams couldn't seem to pull himself together?

Bella wants to be the girl of Edward's dreams, but he isn't making it easy for her. She can only take so much before she just doesn't want to try any more.

Would you walk away from the situation if you could, or would you choose to keep on fighting?

**Edward's POV**

It hurts. Every time I think about it, the pain finds away to manifest in my legs and it burns. The problem is, I can't feel my legs. It's been over a year, maybe two now, since I last had a way to use them. I still can't believe how something as simple as walking was quickly taken away from me. They say it's not permanent, but I feel like it might as well be. If the swelling in my spine hasn't gone down in this many years, I might as well realize what this really means. I could possibly never walk again. I've pretty much come to this conclusion and see it for what it is, but it still hurts.

**Bella's POV**

It really hurts. You try to be there for someone and all they do is push you away. I understand that I may never really understand what it's like to be in your shoes, but I do know that I love you. You keep pushing, but I push back. That only causes you to push even harder and I try to push back just as hard, but it's getting harder and harder to fight. Not just to fight for you, but to fight you as well. I'm not sure what to do any more. People with lesser spirits would've given up by now, like you did, but I don't want to. The problem is, if you continue to push as hard as you are, I may not have a choice. Then where would we be? Both of us would hurt.

POV= Point of View

It's a start, but be sure to let me know what you think of it so far. Thank you.


	2. Chapter 1

****Disclaimer, warning, and summary found on Prologue.****

**Bella's POV**

I'm visiting Edward today. I just can't tell if this will be the last time, as I ask myself the same thing every time, or if I'll keep putting up with his selfishness. He got into an accident a couple of years ago. He and Jacob had been fighting. More rough housing, but then it turned into a fight. They were fighting about which of them would take me to the prom. Winner would be my date and the loser would just live with it. I had my hopes set on Edward and had decided that I'd go over and tell the both of them, but I never got the chance. Jacob and Edward had been fighting too close to the cliff. Jacob pushed Edward over in anger and Edward wasn't prepared for the surprise attack. He managed to hit the water ok, but that day… the water was hitting back, hard. The waves were unbelievably high and the current wasn't anything to mess with. As well a swimmer as Edward had been, the current managed to catch him, and a wave threw him up against the wall of earth. His spine hit a very rough patch and that's what caused the swelling that caused the paralysis. Jacob apologized, but that could only do so much. Edward missed the prom and therefore didn't take me. I didn't go either. I heard it sucked anyway. After that incident, Edward hasn't been the same since. He's been understandable depressed, but it's been a long time.

"You know I'm here if you need me." I tell him all the time.

He doesn't respond. I started feeling like I was more there for my own sake, or his family, more so than for his.

So, here I am trying to make the decision of whether this will truly be my last time putting up with Edward and his want of being left alone, or if I'm going to actually eventually, get through to him so that he understands how I feel about him.

"Hello Bella." Mrs. Cullen answered after opening the door. "He's up in his room."

"Hello Mrs. Cullen. Thanks." I said as I step inside. "Any change?"

She sadly shook her head and closed the door behind me. Looking up the stairs, she sighed and gave me a small smile before moving towards the kitchen. I managed a deep breath before heading towards the stairs.

"Hey Bells." I heard from the living room.

Taking a step back from the stairs, I headed into the living room and saw Emmett sitting there playing a game.

"Hey Emmett. How are you?" I asked.

"I'm good. You?" He asked.

"I'm… ok." I responded.

He merely nodded at that and turned back to his game. Looking back to the stairs, I headed over to them and made the slow ascend up them.

"Hello Isabella." I heard off to my left.

"Hello Dr. Cullen." I responded and journeyed over to see him.

He looked so tired and I felt a little sad. At least more sad than I felt at first. He's so young, but at that moment, really looking at him, he seemed to have aged about twenty years. I could only guess it had to do with all the research he was doing on trying to help Edward get mobility in his legs again.

"Any luck?" I asked.

He sadly shook his head and heaved a sad sigh. I walked over to him and laid a hand gently on his right shoulder.

"It's ok, you'll find something one day."

He rested his hand over mine and managed a small smile.

"Thank you Bella. I know I will." With that, he stood to his feet and made his way down the stairs.

I left his office and headed around the corner towards Edward's room.

"Bella?" I heard and stopped to look towards my left.

"Hey Alice." I said and headed over to her.

She reached out to me and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"Thank you Bella for trying so hard. I know it's been hard on you, but thank you so much for not giving up." Alice said.

I swallowed and nodded before pulling back to look at her.

She'd really lost some weight. I mean she didn't have that much on her to begin with, but she really looked skeletal now. It was rather scary.

"Alice, I thought you were going to eat better?" I said.

"I'm sorry Bella. I've tried, but…" She tapered off, but I know the rest of what she's thinking any way.

I sighed and hugged her again before pulling away and turning back towards Edward's room. Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door and wait.

"Edward? It's me, again." I said before trying the door knob.

The doorknob easily turned in my hand and I slowly pushed the door open. I could hear the sound of running water, but it doesn't register as I walked into the room and searched first the bed and then the room itself looking for Edward.

"Edward?" I called before stepping further into the room.

The sound of running water registered now and I moved towards the attached bathroom. As the door is closed, I knocked first and then tried the handle. It easily turned in my hand and I slowly pushed the door open.

"Edward?" I called again before moving further into the room.

There's no steam to blind me, actually it's kind of cold in the bathroom. I looked over at the sink and frown a bit when I see what appeared to be blood streaks running down the side.

"Edward?" I called once more before turning towards the bathtub shower unit.

After the accident, the Cullens had it especially put in for Edward so it'd be easier to maneuver his wheelchair in. I could see his wheelchair is in there now and I sighed as I walked over to him.

"Edward, didn't you hear me call you?" I asked.

Not getting a response, I walked over to him seeing as he's not actually in the chair. Frowning, I looked down to see him actually laid out on the ground with red streaks coming from him and making their way down the drain. My eyes bulge and I quickly move over to him only to realize that the water is freezing cold. Reaching a hand out, I felt how cold his body was and saw how blue his fingers and lips had gotten.

"Edward!" I screamed and shut off the water. I quickly attempted to pull him out of the freezing water and towards the door, but he's too heavy for me. I managed to catch a glimpse of his wrists and realize he had cut them with something. Tears form in my eyes as I understand he had really tried to give up this time. Putting my hands to his neck I search for a pulse only to find it extremely slow. Maybe he didn't do it. Maybe he cut them against something. Yeah right.

"Dr. Cullen!" I yelled and ran for the door in case he didn't hear me.

I was just about to call out again when I saw his blond hair at the top of the stairs.

"Bella, what is it?" He asked.

"Edward…. It's Edward." I managed and ran back into the bathroom.

I'm glad that's all I have to say before he followed me into the bathroom only to come up short. His eyes large, I'm not really sure what's going through his mind.

"Dear Lord. Get Emmett." He said calmly and moved over to Edward.

"Emmett!" I yelled as I ran to the top of the stairs. "We need your help!"

I heard Emmett curse before he's standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"What is it? Edward throwing a fit again?" He asked.

I shook my head as tears fell down my face. Emmett took note and moved up the stairs quickly.

"What's wrong? What he say now?" Emmett asked before moving around me. "I'll make him pay for making you cry."

I could only shake my head and point him in the right direction.

"What the…? Dad?" I heard a minute later once Emmett went into the room.

"Help me get him onto his bed son. Thankfully the coldness kept him from bleeding out more, but who's to say how much blood he's already lost. He's heart's beating way too slowly as well. We've got to get him warmed up." I heard Dr. Cullen say.

By now Alice and Mrs. Cullen had gathered around me wondering what was wrong. I couldn't say and I also didn't want to alarm them.

"Honey? What's going on?" Mrs. Cullen asked.

"I need blankets love, and towels. Plenty of towels." Dr. Cullen instructed. "Bella I need you to go and get the first aid kit. You remember where it is right?"

I wasn't able to answer.

"I'll get it Dad." Alice responded.

She looked at me confused and worried. She had every right to be. Her little brother had just tried to kill himself and she didn't even know. Without another word, she ran off to get the kit and Mrs. Cullen returned with many folded up towels and blankets. I forced myself to focus and moved to take them from her, but she wouldn't let me.

"What's going on Bella?" She asked.

I swallowed and shook my head. I wasn't sure how to tell her, but I also didn't want her to see her youngest son like this.

"Please, let me take them. You don't want… you shouldn't see…" I tried, but I couldn't think of a better reason for her not to go into the room.

She frowned and moved around me. I heard her gasp before she started to cry and ran out of the room. Alice blinked and turned to look at me as if trying to get me to tell her. Tears had merely begun to fall down my cheeks again. No one should have to see anyone like that, especially a mother.

"Bella? What…?" Alice's voice was barely a whisper.

"Go see to your mom. I'll take that." I said and reached out to take the kit from her.

I guess she figured she really didn't want to see what had made her mom react the way she did because the next thing I know, the first aid kit was in my hands and she had turned from Edward's room and was heading to comfort her mother. I took a deep breath and turned to walk back into the room. I didn't allow my eyes to settle on Edward. I looked at Emmett instead and saw his grief stricken expression. Taking a slightly deep breath, I turned my attention to Dr. Cullen and saw the same expression. I held out the first aid kit towards him and he quickly took it from my hands. Searching the box for what he was looking for took only a matter of seconds. He grabbed the gaze and medical tape before he reached out to wrap Edward's wrists. Being a doctor, Dr. Cullen always made sure that his first aid kit was well stalked.

"You start warming him up with the towels Emmett. We've got to get his body temperature back up." Dr. Cullen instructed.

Unable to help myself, I walked over to the bed and grabbed a towel myself and started to rub Edward's feet. Once Dr. Cullen had finished wrapping his wrists, he moved a balled up fist to the middle of Edward's chest and started rubbing his sternum. At first there wasn't a response, but a minute or two later, Edward gave a barely there moan. Dr. Cullen released the breath I didn't know he was holding and watched as a single tear escaped his right eye. At that moment I realized I hated Edward. How could he do this to his family? A family that loves him, even if he can't walk right now. They'd love him even if he never walked again. I was sure of that.

"Come on Edward, I need you to open your eyes for me. Come on son." I could hear Dr. Cullen coaxing Edward.

After awhile Edward finally decided to open his eyes, but it was brief. I merely continued to attempt to warm up his feet. For a brief moment, I actually asked myself, why was I trying to help someone that probably didn't want to be saved? Someone who obviously didn't care about those around him? Shaking my head, I continued what I was doing and moved up his legs once I was sure his feet were warm enough.

"What the hell? How could he do this to us? To Mom?" Emmett asked angrily.

I could make out the unshedded tears as I looked at him. I sighed and shook my head.

"I don't know, but he must've thought it bad enough to attempt this. I'll be right back." Dr. Cullen responded barely above a whisper as he made his way off the bed and towards the door, leaving.

I turned my attention to Edward and glared at him for a moment before sighing. Had he really given up on life? What if I hadn't found him? What if I really had decided that I wasn't going to visit any more? Would someone else have found him? Would it have been too late? Another tear fell out of the corner of my eye, but I angrily wiped it away. He didn't deserve my tears after this stunt. No. I could still see me being the friend I had always been, but that's all it would've amount to. Even then it'd only be out of love for his family to try and keep him alive. The blooming love I had once felt for Edward had died. Shaking my head, I turned my attention back to Emmett and my heart broke a little again.

"I don't understand Bells. We tried… we try. We try everyday to come up with something. To try to act normal, as if everything is ok. Why? Why would he do something like this?" Emmett asked with tears falling.

I stopped rubbing Edward's legs long enough to move around and hug Emmett. It was hard to see the big man like this. I was used to him teasing us and protecting us. I could hardly believe this was the same man I looked to as an older brother.

"I don't know Emmett. That's something you're going to have to ask him." I said.

Emmett sighed and wiped away his tears. He then resumed rubbing warmth back into Edward's arms and hands. I returned to Edward's legs and looked up at the door to see that Dr. Cullen had returned with a bowl of something hot. When he placed it down on Edward's small table that he kept near the bed, I noticed that it was broth. Slowly, Dr. Cullen lifted a small spoonful from the bowl and brought it to Edward's mouth. He could only hope that Edward drank it to warm himself up. The first spoonful went into Edward's mouth, but it leaked out the side. The next two did the same. Dr. Cullen looked at us for a moment and then sighed. I got up then and moved closer to Edward's face, turning his head a bit, I leaned his head back so that his throat could better handle the liquid.

"Try again Dr. Cullen." I said.

He did, and as he poured a little inside Edward's mouth, I moved his throat so that it was as if he swallowed. When it didn't leak out, Dr. Cullen did it again and again. Before we knew it, half the contents of the bowl were gone and in Edward's stomach. Taking his temperature, Dr. Cullen noted it was a bit higher than before, but Edward was still in the danger zone. We piled blankets on top of him and left him like that. I went to check on Alice and Mrs. Cullen. Emmett came with me. Dr. Cullen went to his office and shut the door.

"I'm so sorry Mom. I should've known it would've gotten this bad, the way he was acting." I heard Alice say.

"It's not like you knew he was going to do something like this." I heard Mrs. Cullen reply.

"I didn't know he was going to do something like this, but I should've. I think back over what I've learned in class and he was basically showing all the signs. I should've known Mom." I heard Alice say.

Emmett and I walked to the door way of Dr. and Mrs. Cullen's room and saw the two of them sitting on the bed. Mrs. Cullen took one look at Emmett and started crying again. Emmett quickly walked over to his mom and hugged her tightly. Alice looked at the two of them before leaning in for a hug as well. I sort of felt like someone watching the family from outside a window so I quietly moved away from the scene and went back to Edward's room.

"I hope you're happy." I said to him.

With a deep sigh, I walked over towards the bed and grabbed the chair that was by his desk and moved it over to his bedside. Sitting down in it, I stared at Edward for a long time. Shaking my head at him, I got more comfortable and leaned against the wall. I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up it was dark. What had woken me up, however, were a faint moaning and then a curse from the occupant of the bed. Edward had woken up.

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><p>Let me know if you're interested in another chapter!<p> 


	3. Chapter 2

****Disclaimer, warning, and summary found on Prologue.****

I'm thankful to those people that took the time to read this story and showed interest. Here's the next chapter for you. Bit of language use in this one.

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><p><strong>Edward's POV<strong>

Darkness flooded me and I was almost happy, but then I slowly started to see a bit of light. The light started to get brighter and I realized it was me opening my eyes.

"Shit. Can't even die right." I said.

I blinked slowly for a minute and looked around. I noticed I wasn't in the bathroom any more, but in my room, on my bed. Sighing, I looked right first and slowly brought my gaze around and noticed that Bella was sitting right beside me.

"What the…?" I asked partially, but my voice got caught in my throat and I began to cough.

I watch as Bella got up and walked out the room. For a minute I couldn't seem to get my breath back and continue to cough. Turning on my side, I started to fall over the side of the bed before two rough hands grabbed me. I turn my head slowly to see my dad helping me back into the bed. I then saw Bella had returned with a cup of what I can only guess to be water. My dad held my head up and took the cup from Bella. I managed to take a couple of sips before I'm choking again. I tried to get my breath back while my dad sat me up and patted my back. I finally got my throat clear and just lay weakly against him.

"It's ok Edward. You're ok." I hear my dad say.

With my breathing back under control, I wanted to yell or scream, but then I don't see the point. Sighing once more I just lay there for a minute and shiver.

"Edward… you want to talk about it?" My dad asked.

I merely shake my head. Disappointed that I failed, yet somewhat relieved that I did, I lift myself away from his warm embrace and leaned back against my pillows.

"I'll be outside." I turned to watch Bella walk out the door.

I wasn't sure what to say. I just watched her go.

"Edward… what you did… what you tried to do… please, please don't ever do that again." I heard my dad say before he broke down and cried.

I felt guilty. How could I have tried that? I was mad that I hadn't succeeded, but then again, looking at my dad now, I was happy. The question was, what was I going to do now? What was going to happen to me? I looked up to see Emmett standing in the doorway.

"Don't… don't you ever do something like that again. Do you hear me? Do you understand me? You see what you did to Dad? How do you think Mom took it?" Emmett asked me angrily.

Mom. I hadn't thought of her. I hadn't really thought of any of them really. I was just being selfish and wanting the pain to end.

"Emmett, I'm…" I started.

"Save it Edward. I'm just glad you didn't succeed and take someone else with you." Emmett said and walked away.

I blinked at that and then frowned. Turning back to dad, I noted he had stopped crying and was just laying there. He must have fallen asleep and I didn't have the heart to wake him, but I figured that couldn't be too good for his back so I slowly ran my hand through his hair. He jerked his head up and looked around.

"Edward? Are you ok?" He asked.

"Yeah Dad. Just didn't think you'd enjoy trying to fix you back later from sleeping like that." I responded.

He nodded and sat up, stretching as he went. Frowning, he shook his head and looked at me again.

"I'm really sorry you're having a hard time of this Edward, but please don't do that ever again. We can get you counseling if it will help. You mean so much to us, how could you want to just end your life so early? In such away?" Dad asked.

"I… I don't know. It just hurts. I'm tired of being a problem. I hate this way of living." I responded.

Dad shook his head and sighed hugging me tightly.

"It's not your say in whether you live or die. Do you hear me? You have so much more to live for. I hate you wanted to take that away from yourself. I especially hate that you tried this early in life when you haven't even given yourself a chance to really live yet." Dad was getting angry now.

I could hear it in his voice, but he quickly tried to calm himself again.

"I'm sorry" Was all I could think of.

"No Edward, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I haven't been a better father to you. I'm sorry you thought this was the answer. From now on we'll try to do better." He said.

I nodded. It was about all I could do. I looked up to see mom at the door and tears falling down her cheeks. I swallowed and looked away, ashamed. I didn't know what to say to her after what Emmett said. Next thing I knew, the bed was dipped and there were another set of arms wrapped around me.

"You ever, in your life, do that to me again and I'll make you beyond sorry if it's possible." My mom said.

"Yes ma'am." I said quietly.

Tears were beginning to form in my eyes, but I felt I had no right to allow them to shed. I'd been crying for a while now and I was quite surprised I had any left. Alice cleared her throat and looked at me. I looked up at her and felt bad. What could possibly be going through her mind?

"Alice I'm…" I started.

"You don't have to explain to me. I know. I am a psychology major." She said.

I swallowed and nodded slowly. She would be the one to understand me most. She always had been. I could feel my eyelids beginning to close. I could also feel that my mom didn't want to leave me, but I was slowly falling under the need to sleep. A yawn escaped my lips and my father unwrapped his arms from around me and moved towards the door.

"Come on honey. Let's let him sleep." He said.

My mom nodded and kissed my forehead before she pulled away and started for the door. I had just the mind to kick myself, if I could. How in the world could I have done this to my family? Looking at them standing in the door way looking back at me, I felt a tear run down my cheek before I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

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><p>Be sure to let me know what you think. Thanks!<p> 


	4. Chapter 3

**Hey! Thanks to those that are still sticking with me. I hope this update doesn't upset you or anything. Be sure to let me know how you feel. **

**Language use. Disclaimer and warning can be found on the Prologue. Enjoy!  
><strong>

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><p><strong>Bella's POV <strong>

I had moved downstairs and sat down. I was actually debating if I should just go home. There wasn't much else I could do here. Sighing, I stood to my feet as I heard the Cullens moving downstairs as well.

"I guess I'll go. I'm really sorry Edward put you guys through that. I hope he doesn't try that again." I said.

Mrs. Cullen moved over to me and gave me a big hug.

"Thank you so much for finding him before it was too late." She said with tears in her eyes.

I wasn't sure what to say. I was still angry at Edward. I merely hugged her back and patted her softly on the back. Moving away, I turned for a hug from Alice. She hugged me tightly and I could only imagine what was going through her mind. She was probably still blaming herself.

"Alice, you may think that you should've known that things were this bad, but you didn't. It's not like you can see into the future or anything. Please don't blame yourself for this." I hugged her again for good measure and pulled away.

Emmett hugged me next. His seemed to last forever and yet it almost seemed to say the most without really saying anything at all.

"Thanks Bells." He whispered before pulling away.

I nodded and gave a half smile before I turned to Dr. Cullen. Taking a deep breath, I moved towards him and stood in front of him for a while.

"Thank you Bella. You know you're like a daughter to me. I can't even begin to describe how thankful we are to you." He said and leaned forward to wrap his arms around me.

I swallowed hard and hugged him back. Pulling away, I gave a small smile and patted his arm. Moving towards the door, I looked at them all once more before pulling it open and leaving. As I closed the door, I realized that I had made a decision. That was going to be the last time I visited them. I don't know why I thought as much, but I couldn't bare the thought of having to go through that again. The thought of seeing their hopeful faces only to watch it be crushed with sadness. I hated my choice, but I didn't want to go through that again. I really didn't. Knowing Edward, I was pretty sure he was sorry now, but later on down the line, I could see him pulling the stunt again only this time, I wouldn't be there to help save him. Taking a ragged breath, I made my way over to my truck and got in. Turning the engine over, I looked at the house I had called my second home and closed my eyes for a minute allowing myself to think of the happy memories I had there. I thought about the memories I could've made while being married to Edward only to watch them become nothing. Backing out of the drive way, I made the long journey home in silence. Once I reached Charlie's place, I put the truck in park and got out.

"Hey Bella, how's Edward and the rest of the Cullens?" Charlie asked as I stepped inside.

I glanced over at him, started to cry and laugh at the same time.

"The Cullens are just peachy. Damn it! I thought I was done with this. He doesn't deserve them. Yeah, Edward's stupid ass tried to kill himself and almost succeeded had I not found him." I said with a watery smile and laugh.

"What? Is he ok? Did they take him to the hospital?" Charlie asked as he walked over to me. "Are you ok?"

I shook my head and tried to get myself under control again.

"They didn't take him to the hospital. I mean his dad is a doctor. He should be fine. I personally could care less however." I said as I started for the stairs.

"You don't mean that Bella. Look in the mirror. This hurt you as much as it probably hurt them, if not more." He said.

I couldn't think of anything else to say so I ran up to my room and slammed the door. I turned and fell onto of my bed and laid there for a moment, crying.

"Damn you Edward. Damn you." I said into my pillow.

The next morning I woke up in a daze. I wasn't sure which way was up or what I was doing. I went about my usual routine half assed. Charlie wasn't there so I figured he'd gone to work. I couldn't decide if I wanted to just go back up to my room and vegetate or what, but the next thing I knew the doorbell was ringing.

"Who is it?" I partly whispered.

"Bella? Are you there?" It was Jacob.

I sighed and just stood there for a minute before my brain kicked in and I opened the door about two minutes later.

"Bella, hey. What's up? You got plans today?" He asked and stood there.

I stood there just looking at him and blinked.

"Umm… you gonna let me in?" He asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." I replied and backed away from the door a little after I unlocked the screen door.

He seemed worried and opened the door.

"Bella?" I had to force myself to look up at him and then just turned away headed towards the kitchen when he pulled me to a stop. "Bella, what's wrong?"

I just shook my head and tried to reach for the fridge, but he wouldn't let me arm go.

"I kind of need that. You mind?" I said.

"Bella, seriously, you're scaring me. What's going on?" Jacob asked.

"…tried to kill…" I mumbled.

"What? I didn't quite catch that." Jacob said pulling me around so that he could look into my face.

"Edward tried to kill himself, ok?" I yelled after making sure I looked Jacob dead in his face.

After that, I jerked my arm from his hold on me and went to the fridge to find something to eat. There was last night's spaghetti, so I took it out and placed it in the microwave to reheat.

"Wh-what? Wow. Seriously?" Jacob asked.

"Nope, just kidding. I decided to stand here and waste my breath to make up a story just for you. There you go." I said and turned my attention back to the microwave once the timer had gone off.

I pulled out the plate and checked it before pushing it back in to let it warm up a bit more.

"Shit. Oh man, are you ok? I mean… I know you have a thing for him and all…" Jacob responded.

"Had. I had a thing for him. After he pulled this stunt…" I just shook my head after saying that much.

"Oh Bella." Jacob said and moved in and wrapped his arms around me. "What a dick."

I sighed and just allowed him to hold me. I'd cried all my tears out last night. Now I was just empty and confused. There was a headache developing, but I figured if I ate something I'd take care of that.

"I told you he wasn't good enough for you." Jacob continued.

"Jake. Not now… ok? I know how you feel about him. Believe me, all of Forks knows, but right now… Just not right now. Ok?" I asked.

Pulling away from him once the timer went off again, I grabbed the plate and moved towards the table.

"You want any of this?" I asked him.

"Sure." He replied and grabbed an extra plate from the dish rack.

I split the original plate in half and we sat in silence and ate. I watched as Jake wolfed his down and then pushed the rest I had in my plate over to him to finish as well. I honestly wasn't all that hungry, but I did manage to eat a bit.

"So… what are you going to do now?" He asked.

I just shrugged. I had no idea what I was going to do. I turned my head to look at the clock only to notice I would normally be getting ready to head over to the Cullens around this time. I sighed and turned my attention back to Jake.

"What did you want to do? I mean you came over for a reason, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, I wanted to see if you wanted to come over and hang out, but I can see you have a lot on your mind right now." Jake responded.

I shrugged again and sighed. I wasn't too sure I was up for anything, but I did want to get my mind of the situation.

"Let's go cliff diving or something." I suggested.

"Um… you do realize it's the middle of October right? It's not exactly summer any more Bella." Jacob said with sarcasm. "I've got a new game I wanted us to try out over at my place if you want to go and play it."

I thought about it for a minute. I didn't really want to go anywhere, let alone play a video game, but it beat moping around the house.

"Sure." I said and got up from the table and rinsed our dishes off.

"Cool." Jake said.

Fifteen minutes later we were making our way down to the rev and up to Jake's house. I had allowed Jake to drive with the thought process that if I didn't have my truck, I wouldn't end up cutting our hangout time in half, running off to see about the Cullens. When Jake finally parked, I got out of his car and made my way into the house. He led me into his house and up to his room. I waved and spoke to his dad, Billy, before going in. Jacob cleared off a spot on the floor for himself and then me. I wasn't too sure if I'd actually play the game, but again, being here was better than being at my house. He handed me a controller and took one for himself before he turned on the Xbox. Unsure what to do, I let him handle everything before we finally got to the game. It was some kind of fighting game. I'm a bit of a button masher when it comes to these kinds of games, so I wasn't surprised when Jake started blaming me for beating him.

"You're cheating. You've played this game before." He whined.

"No I have not and you know that good and well." I responded knocking out his character once more.

Somehow that had taken up about two hours before my phone started to ring. I wasn't sure who it was, but I was pretty sure I didn't want to look down to see that it was the Cullens. I was too nervous. What if they were calling to tell me that Edward had actually attempted to kill himself again, only this time he didn't fail? What if it was Edward asking me where I was or Alice wondering where I was and why I wasn't over there with them? I finally got the courage to turn the phone over to see who it was when it stopped ringing. It was Charlie. I guess he was checking up on me. Unsure what I should do, I looked at Jake and moved towards his bathroom so that I could call Charlie back.

"Hey, you called?" I asked once he said hello.

"Yeah, just checking up on you. What are you doing that you couldn't answer the phone?" He asked.

"Playing a video game with Jake. He's trying to say his sucking at the game is because I'm cheating." I laughed.

Whoa, when was the last time I did that?

"Oh, well… I'm glad you got out of the house then. Tell him and Billy I said hi." Charlie said.

"Ok. I will." After that we hung up and I went back into Jacob's room.

"Who was that?" He asked.

"Charlie. He says hi by the way." I reported.

"Oh, cool." Was his response. "Well I don't know you, but I'm hungry."

I merely nodded and followed him out of his room towards the kitchen. I told Billy that Charlie said hi and he nodded.

"Hey Dad, what's for dinner?" Jacob asked.

"Whatever you can find I suppose." Billy responded.

At that moment I turned and really looked at Billy. When was the last time I had a real conversation with him? I mean I always took in the fact that he was Jake's dad, but really looking at him, he was also a guy that had actually permanently lost the use of his legs. I never really looked at him as a guy in the wheel chair, I looked at him for the person he was and the respect that he demanded without saying a word.

"Hey Billy, can I ask you something personal?" I asked before I knew what I was doing.

I moved over to him and sat down in the chair across from him.

"Umm… sure Bella. What's up?" Billy questioned.

"When you…" I cleared my throat and tried again. "When you lost the use of your legs, how did you handle that?"

I could see Jacob straightening up from his rummaging in the refrigerator. He had a package of lunch meat in one hand and mayonnaise in the other.

"Well, Bella, I can definitely tell you it was tough. I had a baby to take care. There was having to relearn to do things that I used to do with ease, but I managed. Of course it was thanks to many friends and family, but it was still hard."

Bella could only nod with understanding and sigh. Maybe there was hope for Edward, but she wouldn't really hold her breath for him any more. His choice yesterday really skewed her thoughts of the man he could be. With a great sigh, she thanked Billy and walked over to see what Jacob had come up with.

"Well, there are sandwiches if you want." Jacob said.

"No thanks. I'm not really hungry." I said.

He shrugged and bit into this sandwich he was currently attacking. I shook my head at him and smiled.

"Thanks Jake." I whispered.

"Huh? You say something?" He asked as he lifted his head from his plate.

I shook my head and pushed at him playfully.

"Hey!" He said hurtfully.

I stood up and made my way back to his room. Stretching my hands over my head, I thought back to all the times I had been in his room. It had been a long time, but that was what I deemed, BE, before Edward. I used to come over all the time to see what kind of trouble we could get into. Jacob and I had the best times and then Edward came along. I sighed and turned to leave, but bumped into a chest.

"Whoa. Where did those come from?" I asked as I unconsciously ran my hands down Jacob's chest and over his six-pack.

At least that's what I thought I felt. Realizing what I was doing, I quickly pulled my hands away and blushed.

"Sorry." I mumbled.

"It's fine. I didn't mind." Jacob said sexily.

I felt myself blush a little more, but I didn't look at him.

"Umm… I think I'm ready to go home. I think Charlie should be off by now." I said and forced myself to back away and look at him.

"Are you sure? I mean, I'm sure I could find something to distract you for a little longer." Jacob said moving closer to me.

I unconsciously backed away and bumped into a wall.

"I… I… Yes, I need to head home. Gotta make dinner." I said nodding.

Was it always this hard to breathe or think around him? Shaking my head, I forced myself to moved around him and head towards his room door and then towards the front door.

"Bye Billy. Thanks for letting me come over and sorry for letting me make you remember painful memories." I apologized and thanked him.

"No problem Bella. Have a good night. Tell Charlie to come over early if he wants to watch the game on Sunday with us." Billy said.

"I will!" I responded and headed out the door.

Jake was right behind me and told Billy he'd be right back. The ride back to my house was rather quiet. I was just thinking on some things and could only guess Jacob was too.

"Hey, thanks for today." I said as I got out of the car.

"No problem. Let me know if you need another get away." He winked at me and headed back for him place.

I turned and went inside.

"Hey." I said to Charlie.

"Hey." He responded.

"Billy says to show up early on Sunday if you want to watch the game with them." I relayed.

Charlie nodded and I went up to my room. I debated on calling Alice, but I figured they could get on without me for a day, maybe more. Sighing, I went over to my computer to check my emails and updated my mood on the social network before I went down to see about dinner.

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><p><strong>Let me know what you think!<strong>


	5. Chapter 4

**I say thank you to those of you that are still with me. I can only hope that I'm able to continue to keep your interest. Disclaimer and warnings can be found on the prologue. Thanks again and I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

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><p><strong>Edward's POV<strong>

Darkness was once again the first thing I noted before multiple stabbing pains made themselves known in my wrists. There was a pressure in the same area and I tried to force myself to open my eyes in order to see what was going on.

"_Are you awake now?"_ a cold voice greeted me.

I whimpered as the pressure grew causing more pain.

"_Does that hurt? Want me to make it all better?"_ The voice asked teasingly.

I screamed out as the pressure became unbearable and turned my head to see that it was me that was causing pain to my own self. I gasped in shocked, holding the next scream in my throat as I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"_This shouldn't be that shocking. You've been causing yourself pain for so long, I figured you either be used to it, or would be looking for an out. Was I wrong? I couldn't have been, compared to the last stunt you just pulled."_ My other self said.

I had no idea what was going on, but I had to believe this was one of the freakiest dreams I had ever imagined.

"_Oh no, this isn't a dream. This is your living nightmare."_

Out of nowhere, my dream self had pulled out a knife and was slashing down my arms to my wrist where I could really feel the pain. I screamed as I watched myself moved to the other arm.

"I've changed my mind. I've changed my mind!" I yelled to myself.

"_It's a bit late for that."_ He said and brought the knife down my other arm to my wrist.

I screamed again and blacked out.

"Edward. Edward!" I felt someone shaking me, but I couldn't seem to get my bearings.

I jerked up in bed and looked straight into the face of my father. Breathing quickly and shallowly, I look at him and I must've turned green 'cause the next thing I know, there was what I assumed to be a trashcan under my head as I became sick. I was sick until I thought my stomach had made a surprise visit, but decided that inside was much better than out. Lying back against my pillows, I felt ridiculously weak and as if I couldn't get enough air into my lungs.

"Edward?" I heard my dad call out to my.

I didn't say anything. I was still trying to get my breathing under control.

"What's wrong dear?" I heard my mom ask.

"He's got a bit of a fever. I need to change his bandages again, but I'm worried he's going to be sick again. He's dehydrated as it is." I heard my dad respond.

"Do you want me to stay here with him while you get the bandages and maybe anything else you know you may need or you want me to get everything?" She asked.

"I better run and get everything. You can watch him. I'll be right back." My dad said as he ran a hand over my forehead. "I'll be right back son."

I didn't feel too good. It felt like the room was spinning and I didn't even have my eyes open. I moaned as I tried to lean over the bed, but I felt a couple of soft hands holding me.

"You have to lay still Edward. Your father will be right back." My mom said to me.

"S-sick." I managed before I attempted to lean over again, hoping to find the trashcan.

My mom must have finally gotten it because I heard the sound of my sickness hitting the bottom of the trashcan once more. Moaning again as I managed to lie back on my bed, I really felt like crap.

"M-mom…" I moaned and started to shake from coldness.

I heard dad stumble back into the room.

"How is he?" He asked.

"He was sick again." My mom replied.

"Humm…. Hold this please." I heard him request.

I then felt a pressure on my wrist and hissed at the pain before I tried jerking my hand away.

"I'm sorry Edward, but I need to change these." He said to me.

I felt him change my bandages and clean the area. Again I hissed in pain, but I didn't jerk my hands away this time. It felt like it was getting even colder and I started to shake even more.

"He's cold dear." I heard my mom say.

"That's because of the fever. We need to get him hydrated." My dad said.

I felt something at my lips, but unsure as to what it was, I turned my head away in an attempt to get away from whatever it was.

"Come on Edward. It's just a little Gatorade." I heard him say.

I was tired and cold. I just wanted to go back to sleep and hope that the spinning would stop and soon. Once again I could feel the pressure at my lips and I, once again, turned my head away. I tried to bat away whatever it was, but it felt like there were weights on my arms. Moaning, I tried to lift my arms again, but they were still hard to move. I felt like I was flying for a minute there, and then the pressure at my lips was back again.

"Come on Edward, just a little." I heard my mom say.

Just a little what? I started to open my mouth to ask, but it was quickly filled with a liquid. Trying to breathe and swallow at the same time is highly something I wouldn't recommend doing. Some of the stuff went down the wrong pipe and I started to cough.

"You're ok. You're ok." I heard.

I started moaning again and coughed a few more times before I was laid back down on my bed. I felt a bit warmer as something else covered me and I slowly drifted back to sleep.

"C-c-cold." I could barely make out as my teeth clattered together because I was so cold.

"_Are you cold?"_ My evil self was back.

I tried to search for something to keep me warmer, but it was in vane. I felt a soft stroking on my forehead and tried to turn towards the sound of the voice, but I didn't feel well and barely made it over the side of the bed to be sick again.

"B-Bella?" I asked softly.

"_Ha! After the way you treated her, you honestly think she'd want to put up with you any more?"_ He said.

The stroking stopped and I whimpered a bit, but it started again so I thought I was ok. I was stunned when I felt the covers pulled from me and great gusts of wind ran over my body. I started to shiver uncontrollably and tried to reach out for them to come back.

"Wait! What's going on?" I asked myself.

A strong pair of arms grabbed my upper body, while another grabbed my legs and I thought, for a moment, that I was going to be tortured some more by my evil self.

"_Just going for a little ride."_ He taunted.

"No… put me down." I yelled.

As if I were getting what I wanted, I could feel myself being lowered down, but was greatly shocked when I felt more coldness around me, only in liquid form. I jerked and tried to get out of the wetness.

"No! Stop! What… what is this?" I screamed.

"_Oh stop being a baby. You didn't want to live, so I'm trying to make that happen if you'd stay still."_ He said.

"Stop!" I tried flaying, but that didn't work.

I tried putting weight on my wrists to push myself out, but it hurt too much. Finally spent, I shivered as I tried to come to terms with the fact that I was really going to die this time. Shaking my head, I tried to fight some more, but it was no use. Just as I gave up, the two pairs of arms lifted me and I was taken out of the torture area.

"Wh-wh-what's… g-going… o-on?" I asked.

"_I just thought drowning would be too good for you so I'm going to find something better."_ With that, he vanished and I woke up.

"Shhh… you're ok Edward. We had to get your temperature down." I blinked after opening my eyes and saw it was my dad.

"D-Dad?" I asked.

"That's right. How are you feeling?" He asked.

It took me a minute to process, but I just blinked at him.

"Edward?" He asked.

I opened my mouth as if to answer, but all that came out was me being sick again.

"I had to start an IV because he's too dehydrated. He's sick, but there's nothing in his stomach to get rid of. I called the hospital and told them I wouldn't be coming in today. I can only hope we don't end up having to go in after all because I can't get his fever down. We've done the lukewarm bath, ice, I just gave him medicine so I'm hoping that will help."

"You said his cuts weren't infected. What could be causing this?"

"He was in the water a long time before we found him. This could just be his body's way of paying him back, per say."

I groaned and tried to open my eyes, but they just felt too heavy. I quickly felt a soft pair of hands on my shoulder and frowned a bit trying to open my eyes once more.

"It's ok Edward. You're ok." I heard Alice say.

"Alice." I barely said above a whisper.

"Yes Edward, it's me." She said.

"S…sorry." I managed before falling unconscious again.

The next time I woke up, I was surprised to see that Emmett was sitting by me.

"Hey, you feelin' ok?" He asked.

I was tired and felt weak, but I guess I felt a bit better. So I nodded slowly.

"Good. Dad had to work, Mom's catchin' a nap, and Alice is at school." He said.

"W-what are you…" I winced as I tried to sit up.

"I'm baby-sitting you. Where you trying to go?" He responded.

"Bathroom." I said.

Honestly, I was too tired to get up and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to stand, let alone use the restroom.

"I'll help you. Hold on." Emmett moved the covers off me and I shivered for a second before he helped me turn my legs off the bed and to the floor.

He helped me grab the IV stand up as it started to fall over.

"Easy man. It's not a race." He commented.

He then helped me into my chair and towards the bathroom before leaving me to do what I had to do. I called him when I was finished and he helped me back to my bed. I wanted to take a shower, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to be in there for any amount of time. Once I was back in bed, I released the breath I didn't know I was holding.

"You need anything?" He asked.

I shook my head and just laid there.

"Alright. Yell if you need me." Emmett said and left me to my own devices.

Considering I couldn't really do much else, I went to sleep.

"Well, it's a good thing he's getting all this sleep. Hopefully he'll feel better." I heard from somewhere.

"Yeah. I hope." Another voice said.

I slowly opened my eyes and blinked a few times. What was going on? Frowning, I tried to get my thoughts together and remember what happened. Sitting up slowly, I looked first to my left and then my right. I took a breath and reached around to scratch the back of my head.

"Edward? You ok?" I heard my father ask.

"Umm… I think so? I think I could really use a shower." I said as I pulled the shirt I was wearing away from my chest and felt all icky.

My dad walked into my room a few seconds later and helped me into my chair and then into the bathroom. He sat down on the toilet while he waited for me to finish up with my shower. I guess he didn't trust me to just take a shower. I couldn't blame him. Shaking my head, I washed my hair, cleaned the rest of me, and called him when I was ready to move back into the room. When we got back, my sheets had been changed and there was a bowl of soup for me to eat. I wasn't too sure if I could eat, but my stomach sure let me know it was hungry.

"Huh, what time is Bella coming over?" I asked once I was situated back in bed.

My dad looked around for a minute before he looked a bit sheepish.

"Um… I'm not sure son. I haven't talked to her in a while." He said.

I frowned at that. What did he mean?

"Eat you soup son. I'll be right back." He said and left the room.

I was still kind of confused, but I ate and was surprised that I had eaten all of it. Not sure what else to do. I got back in my chair and made my way out of my room. As I headed for the stairs, I could make out my mom and dad talking to each other in their room. Not thinking much of it until I heard Bella's name, I made my way over to their doorway.

"I'm not sure what to tell him." I heard dad say.

"To tell me about what?" I asked.

They both turned quickly to look at me.

"What's going on?" I asked.

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><p><strong>Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!<strong>


	6. Chapter 5

**Hey there, still with me? Here's the next chapter in the story. I hope you'll enjoy it. Let me know! Disclaimer and warning found on the Prologue.**

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><p><strong>Bella's POV<strong>

I woke up and just laid in my bed for a moment, remembering what Jake and I did yesterday. I was really happy to have a friend like that. Someone, like Jacob, that could get my mind off things. Unfortunately at that moment, my mind decided to venture into those things in which I was trying to get my mind off of, Edward. I wondered how he was. Whether I should pull myself together and go visit him.

"No! You said you were going to take a break." I reprimanded myself.

I missed him, if not him, then I missed his family. I wondered for a moment if I could send Alice a message, but decided against it. I needed as much of a break as they needed from me. Sighing, I sat up and got out of bed. I figured I'd take a shower and see where the day took me. Once I left upstairs, I noted Dad wasn't anywhere. He must've gone to work. Sighing, I journeyed into the kitchen and heated up something to eat. Moving over to the table took some doing. I was half tempted to just stand up and eat, but I figured I should be somewhat civil. I had just finished eating when my phone rang. I figured it was Dad checking up on me, but was surprised to see Alice's name flashing across the screen. I wasn't sure what to do. Do I pick it up and hear bad news? Do I pick it up and hear good news?

"H-Hello?" I answered quietly.

"Bella? Can you hear me?" She asked.

"Ah.. yeah. Yeah I can hear you. What's up?" I tried to sound like old times, but… it wasn't exactly easy.

"Where are you? Are you busy?" She asked.

"Uh…"

What did I say? What if she was trying to get me to go over to her house? I wasn't ready for that. I wasn't ready to face Edward just yet. Besides, I had put my foot down this time. I made a decision and I wasn't going to break it, if I could help it.

"Uhh… I'm just … on my way out the door actually." I said as I ran around and grabbed my keys, my wallet, and my jacket. "Why, what's up?"

I asked cautiously. I figured I'd just head up to the city, walk around the bookstore a time or two. Find something interesting to read and waste enough time so that it was late when I came back. The drive up there would take a little time out of the day and then there would be the drive back.

"Oh, I was trying to see if you were free. Thought we could talk maybe or hangout. I didn't see you yesterday." She commented.

"Yeah, Jacob and I hung out for a while." I said.

"Oh, I see. Well… that's good. I guess I'll just talk to you tomorrow then." Alice said. "Take care."

"Umm… tomorrow? I'll see if I can do that. I'll talk to you later." With that, I hung up.

It was mostly out of fear that she'd ask if I was avoiding them, which of course I was, but also out of worry that she'd want to talk about Edward and I just wasn't ready for that, that's why I hung up so quickly. I was libel to say anything that came to my mind. Most of it would've been out of anger and it's not really a very good idea to talk to your friend about their stupid brother when you're angry. Then again, sure he has his moments of stupidity, but it's mostly his actions, his choices, that are stupid. Not him himself, though I'd argue that point after his actions the day before. After getting off the phone with Alice, I figured I'd better get on with the plan I had. Just in case she or someone else decided to drive by and saw that I was indeed home. Then again, the truck being in the yard didn't really mean I was home, but… that didn't really matter. I had a plan and I was sticking to it.

"Alright, to the bookstore." I said with a sigh and walked out the door before closing it behind me and locking it.

The drive to the city wasn't a very long one, normally, but you have to remember, I was trying to waste time and my truck was on its last wheel. It didn't have the ol' get up and go like it used to. I was afraid she'd eventually just give up the ghost on me and leave me stranded. Granted I have my cell phone and a way to call my Dad if such a thing were to ever happen, that still didn't mean I wanted it to happen. Once I reached the parking lot of the bookstore, I turned off the engine and sat there for a moment. I thought of how sad it was not only to lie to Alice in the first place, but to also force myself to act upon said lie, just so it wouldn't be a lie. Was it still a lie in the end? No it couldn't be. I finally got out of my truck and entered the store. There weren't too many other people inside, granted it wasn't exactly a large establishment, but still, it was something to do when you wanted to get out of an original lie, or the house.

"Hey Bella. What brings you in today?" I heard a voice asked.

"Oh, hey Mike." I respond. "I was just looking to waste some time."

"That's cool. You headed over to see the Cullens later then?" Mike asked.

"Umm… not today. Just thought I'd read a bit and umm… breathe I guess." I replied.

Practically everyone in the Forks/Port Angeles area knew about me visiting the Cullens at least once a day.

"Oh. Well… I'm here if you need something. Just let me know." He said.

"Uh yeah. Thanks." I responded and walked away.

Mike Newton was an ok guy, but he had his moments. There was a time when he was interested in me, but he saw I only had eyes for Edward and Jessica Stanley was making eyes at him enough that he finally noticed. Shaking my head at myself, I browsed the many bookcases and settled on the mystery section. Pulling a book off the shelf a little, I noted the title and laughed. Completely removing the book from the shelf, I moved over to the small section they had left in the store as the reading section. I open the cover and read a few lines before I've found myself totally immersed into the book.

"Hey Bella, it's time to close. You gonna buy that?" Mike asked.

"Huh? Seriously? Jeez, where'd the time go?" I asked.

I was tempted to buy the book, but at the same time, it gave me a reason to come here again another day. That way I could stick to my lie, that wasn't really a lie, if I didn't have anything going on with Jacob another day.

"No, I was just reading it. It's a pretty good read so far. I'll have to get some money from my Dad and buy it next time or something. Umm… I guess I'll see ya." I said and replaced the book where I'd found it and headed out the door.

"Well if you want, I can walk you to your car. I just have to lock up first." He said.

"Umm… sure. That'd be nice." I said.

Like I said, he wasn't a bad guy, just a total goofball. After he locked up, he and I walked towards my truck and talked a little more before we got there. It was nice to be able to just talk to someone and listen to them respond back. I sighed as I realized my thoughts were headed back towards Edward.

"Well, I thank you for walking me to my truck Mike. I'll talk to you next time." I said.

"Alright. See ya." He responded and headed off towards his car.

I got inside my truck and headed home. I honestly couldn't believe how late it was. I had at least an hour before Charlie was suppose to be headed home. I had to find something to cook and quick. I sighed as I finally pulled into the driveway. I had an idea of what I was going to make, but that quickly flew out of my head when I saw Emmett standing on the porch.

"E-Emmett?" I asked.

"Hey, where've you been? I've been standing out here all day." He said.

"I was at the bookstore. What are you doing here?" I responded.

"I came to see you. See how you've been. Edward's been bad off, but I think he's on the mend now. We haven't seen or heard from you yesterday. Thought I'd come by and see if everything's ok." He said.

"Umm… I talked to Alice earlier. I take it she didn't tell you?" I said.

"No, I guess I didn't give her much of a chance either. Edward's been asking for you."

"Oh. Umm…. You said he was bad off? Bad off how?" I questioned.

"He was sick. Dad didn't think it was an infection of his wrist cutting or anything, but like I said, he's doing better." Emmett related.

"That's good." I said. "Umm… I actually need to get dinner started before Charlie gets home. Can I talk to you later?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll see you later Bells. Be sure to come by soon." Emmett said and turned to head towards his car.

I watched him get in his car and drive away. I stood there for another five minutes before I realized I needed to get my butt in gear. Turning, I unlocked the door and went inside. For a moment, I replayed all that was said and shook my head. I needed to focus. Dinner needed to be done. I quickly set about washing my hands and fishing everything I would need out. I just managed to get the chicken out of the oven when Charlie pulled up.

"Hey Bella, something sure smells good." He said.

"Yeah, dinner's ready. Go ahead and wash up. I'll get the table ready." I said and set about doing what I said.

Charlie and I had a quiet dinner. I was mostly thinking about what Emmett had told me.

"That was good Bella." I merely nodded at Charlie's words and set about cleaning up.

He grabbed another beer and went off to watch TV. I went up to my room after putting everything away and thought some more on what Emmett said. Edward was sick? There was something about an infection? No, that wasn't right. Sighing, I journeyed to my bed and sat down before I leaned against my bed frame.

"Edward." I sighed and turned to look out the window before allowing my eyelids to slowly close.

Figuring I'd better get undressed and ready for bed before I fell asleep, I quickly got to it. Settled once more in my bed, I turned off the lamp and closed my eyes before my dreams took me away.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! Leave me a review if you like.<strong>


	7. Chapter 6

**As you usual, the disclaimer and warnings can be found on the prologue.**

**I was quite surprised to see when I first started this story and the current month. I have to admit, it's not cause I'm thinking of the story too slowly, it's merely I'm posting them slowly. I'm actually quite far in this story, but I'm not quite sure if people are enjoying it or not. I do thank those that have added my story to alerts and favorites, I could hardly believe it, but I worry that I'm not keeping the story interesting enough. I hate to ask, beg, bother, but I could really use some feedback so I know I'm moving in the correct direction, or if I should stop wasting both time and space on here.**

**Again, I thank those that are enjoying the story and have, in a way, let me know. I just hope I can continue to do so. Enough of my worries, I hope for your forgiveness and that you'll enjoy this next chapter. Here you go.**

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><p><strong>Edward's POV<strong>

"Edward!" My Mom called, surprised to see me.

"You should be in bed Edward. You're not completely healed yet." Dad was saying.

"That's not what you're talking about and I know it." I said.

"Edward, I'm not sure what to tell you." He said.

I frowned again and wondered what was going on. Waiting for him to continue, I turned to look at my mom to see if she had anything to add to this.

"Sweetheart, you need to rest a little more. Listen to your father." Mom said.

"Mom, what is going on? Did something happen? Did something happen to Bella?" I was getting aggravated and worried.

What in the world could they possible be hiding from me? Why would they be hiding something from me? They looked at each other and Dad sighed.

"Edward, we were just discussing the fact that we haven't seen Bella in a couple of days. That's all." He said.

"Huh? What do you mean? Bella hasn't been here for a couple of days?" I asked.

"No, she hasn't." He responded.

I frowned at that and wondered for a minute.

"Is she ok? Did something happen?" I asked.

"We're not sure. That's what we were discussing actually." Dad said.

I tried to think of a reason myself, but couldn't find one. I turned my chair around and headed back towards my room. Moving myself back towards the bed, I'd locked the wheels on my chair and then moved into the bed. I turned myself to look to my desk for my phone, but I couldn't see it.

"Hey Mom, have you seen my phone?" I yelled.

"No honey, I haven't. It's not on your desk?" She asked as I heard her voice getting closer.

The last words were spoke from my door way as she stood there looking confused for a moment.

"No. I don't see it. Where else would it be?" I asked.

"I'm not sure. Let me look." She said and moved around my room searching.

It was really odd that she didn't find it. I could only wonder where it was.

"Do you mind if I used yours? I want to call Bella." I said.

"Sure honey, let me get it for you." She said and left.

I sat there on my bed wondering what could've possibly happened that Bella hadn't been by. She always came over. She'd even been over when I… My eyes grew large as I realized what happened.

"Here you go sweetie. Edward? What's wrong?" Mom asked as she moved over to me.

"Bella… she hasn't been over since I… you know?" I asked.

"Now that you mention it, no she hasn't." Mom said.

I swallowed and sighed.

Mom frowned for a minute.

"You think this has something to do with that?" She asked.

I nodded, my throat suddenly too dry to speak.

"Oh. Well maybe she just needs some time. She'll come over when she's ready." Mom said trying to comfort me.

I merely looked at her and looked away.

"Did you still want to use my phone?" She asked.

"No… that's ok. Thanks though." I responded.

"Sure." With that she, moved my chair out of the way, leaned over and kissed my forehead before she straightened and left my room.

Bella was kinda angry the night of the failed attempted suicide. At least I think I remember her being angry. I wasn't quite sure. Turning on my left side, I closed my eyes as I tried to picture the night of the attempt and tried to put the pieces together in my head. I was pretty out of it, but that first time I woke up I sorta remember some things. She sat in the chair next to me and then she got up and left to go get Dad. She then…darn it, what did she do next? I think she left, maybe? I growled in frustration as I couldn't recall. Perhaps it would be better, maybe even easier, to just call her and ask instead of trying to rack my non working brain. Yeah right. Sighing, I opened my eyes and turned back so that I could stare up at the ceiling. I could only hope she was ok. I blinked as I heard footsteps on the stairs. I turned to look out my doorway and saw Emmett standing there.

"Hey." I said softly.

"Hey." He replied.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I just got back from seeing Bella." He replied.

"Oh." Was all I could muster up.

I didn't want to seem too eager to hear about her, but I was glad to know she was still alive and kicking. However, I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to hear the rest of this story, but I didn't tell that to Emmett.

"Yeah." Emmett said and had a look of, 'why did I bring this up?'

"What's going on Emmett?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing. She was ok. I told her about you and how you were doing. She seemed… not so responsive?" He said. "She had to cook dinner."

He acted like that was the weirdest thing in the world, but I understood. Bella always cooked meals for Charlie unless they ordered a pizza.

"Well… she does cook for Charlie." I said defending her a little.

"Yeah, but I thought she would've been more interested in what I was saying about you. If she showed a little more concern maybe it would've been ok, but she acted as if she didn't really care." He said with a frown.

I shrugged and stretched my back.

"I'm glad you cared enough to tell her about me and then think it weird when she didn't show any signs of interest. Thanks." I said.

"Yeah well, I hope you keep getting better. I'm gonna go see what we have for dinner here." He said and turned to head out of my room.

I thought through what he'd told me, but I figured if Bella got a couple days to herself, she'd eventually come around, or I'd call her. Now if only I could find my phone. Turning on my right side, I didn't judge the distance I had left on the bed well enough and ended up falling off. I guess I must have smack my head pretty good on my desk or something because I don't really remember what happened right after I blacked out.

"Edward? Edward? Can you hear me son? Come on." I heard my Dad calling.

My eyes felt rather heavy, but the fact that my Dad was calling me made me try to open them.

"That's it. Come on. You can do it." I could hear him trying to coax me on, but it was just too hard.

My head was killing me and my side was hurting really bad. I tried lifting my hand up to rest on my head, but I couldn't seem to move it. For a minute I started to panic, but realized that it had to be because something, or someone, was holding it down or something. At least that's what I was telling myself.

"Edward? Can you open your eyes?" I heard.

I can honestly say I tried, but I was just too tired so I gave up and journeyed back into the darkness, away from the pain and the calling.

**CPV**

I had just gone into my office and sat down at my desk after Edward left. I sighed as I thought back to the conversation. It didn't keep me long as Emmett soon knocked on my door. After greeting Emmett, He told me about Bella's reaction, or lack of one, to the fact that Edward had been sick. I had actually considered calling her myself to make sure she was ok. Emmett hadn't mentioned if she had been sick, but I hadn't asked either. Thinking more about the situation, I could've sworn I heard a thunk, or a thump. It was the sound of something hitting something else rather hard. I waited a minute to see if I would hear it again, but I didn't. I shrugged it off for a minute then I heard my wife's voice.

"Edward? Edward?" I heard her call.

I moved out of my chair and headed to where I figured her to be.

"Edward? Sweetheart?" She continued to call.

"What's going on?" I asked as I entered the room.

"I don't know. I heard a thump and came to see what it was. Edward's here on the floor, but he's not answering me." She said.

I moved over towards them and she moved so I could see better.

"Edward? Edward?" I called smacking his face a little.

I moved my hand down to his shoulder then.

"Edward? Edward? Can you hear me son? Come on." I continue to call.

It seemed as if he was trying to open his eyes.

"That's it. Come on. You can do it." I coaxed.

I continued to shake him and pulled back a little when I saw him trying again.

"Edward? Can you open your eyes?" I asked.

He seemed to try again before he just gave up. I frowned at this and tried rubbing his sternum. I didn't get any response. I tried again a little harder this time and he gave me a weak moan. I moved my hands down to his waist to move him into a better position when he jerked up and banged his head against his bed frame. I heard my wife gasp and my eye grew wide at his actions. He'd basically knocked himself out, again, and I wasn't too sure of the cause. I finally got him situated on the floor and started checking his head for injuries. He had a knot starting to form just above his right eyebrow, a bruise at his right temple, and another knot on top of that.

"Honey, please be careful with him." My wife said.

"I'm not sure what that last motion was caused by." I said.

Figuring I'd start at his head and make my way down, I noted the knots and the bruising, moved my fingers gently over his neck and down his torso, and checked first his left and then his right arm. Not getting any response from that, I continued down to his waist and he responded with a wince and a low moan. I frowned and lifted his shirt to see a large bruise forming along with a bit of red spots. I turned him onto his left side so I could better look at what I was seeing. Gently running my hands over the bruise, I noted that his bones moved a little. He moaned out again and I apologized before returning his shirt back as it was.

"Either one or two of his ribs have been broken or cracked. I can't really be sure unless he has an X-ray. We'll have to move him to the hospital to check." I said.

"Oh dear. Let me grab what we need and I'll get the car. I'll send Emmett to help" Esme said and set off to do just that.

"Edward?" I called not really expecting a response. "We've got to get you to the hospital."

"Dad? What's going on? Mom said you needed my help with Edward?" Emmett asked as he walked into the room.

"Yes, help me get your brother to the car. We have to get him to the hospital." I said.

"What? What's wrong? What happened?" He asked.

"I need to get an x-ray of him. He may have broken or cracked a rib. We won't know for sure until we get the x-ray. Grab his legs and be careful." I remarked as I stood at Edward's head.

The two of us managed to get Edward out of his room and down to the car. He started to slowly come to, at least I thought he was, but he merely whimpered a bit and moaned. I left Emmett standing at the door in the garage wondering what was going on while Esme and I left to get Edward to the hospital.


	8. Chapter 7

**Thank you so much to those of you that left me review or sent me messages. I appreciate them! Warning and Disclaimer found in the prologue. Happy reading!**

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><p><strong>Bella's POV<strong>

The next morning I got up and got dressed before moving downstairs to get something to eat for breakfast, wait, it was afternoon so I guess I meant lunch. At the same time, I figured I head back to the bookstore and waste some more time there. I still wasn't interested in going to the Cullens. I was trying to stick to my guns and not go. Besides, I really was enjoying the book I picked out the last time I was there. I ate pretty quickly and then left the house. When I arrived to the bookstore, I noticed that Mike was there again. I ended up walking over to him and we chatted for a few minutes before he got busy. My cell phone chose that moment to ring anyway. I looked down at it and saw that it was Alice calling. I took a deep breath before I answered.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Bella, hey. Umm… you busy?" Alice asked.

"Actually I am, but what's up?" I replied.

"Oh, umm… I was just wanting a chance to talk to you. I wondered if maybe you wanted to come over." She asked.

"Oh. I'm sorry. I can talk on the phone if that will work for you." I said.

"Umm… sure. I haven't had a chance to talk to you in a while. How are you? Are you ok after… you know?" She asked.

"I'm doing alright. I mean… you know, as well as can be expected. How are you and your family? Emmett stopped by one day and told me Edward had been sick? Is he doing better?" I asked.

"Yeah we're alright. Yeah Edward's been sick. He's on the mend now though. Thanks for asking." She responded.

"That's good. What are you up to now? How are classes?" I asked as I took a seat.

"Umm… I'm alright I guess. I'm just sitting here talking to you really. Classes are… well they are classes. There's nothing too strenuous, just the worry of Edward and whether or not he's really over this, or if he's merely bidding his time before he tries again. I'm so worried Bella. I don't know what to do." She said and I could hear her crying.

I wanted to be there to comfort her, I really did, but I made a choice and I was sticking to it.

"Don't worry Alice. I'm sure he's turned over a new leaf. If you don't believe that, you being as close as you are to him, then just take a little time and talk to him. Get an idea of what's going on in his head. I'm sure you and he could use the peace of mind." I said.

I could still hear her sniffing, but she seemed to be calming down a bit.

"Thanks Bella. I really needed to hear that. Hold on a minute Bella, I think something's wrong." She said. "I'll call you back."

There was a click and the dial tone before I knew it. I pulled my cell phone from my ear and looked at it for a minute before hanging it up and replacing it into my pocket. A shrug of my shoulder and I got up from my seat in search of the book I was reading the last time I was there. I believe I'd gotten about a couple, maybe five, pages in before my cell was ringing again.

"Hello?" I questioned as I hadn't looked at the caller ID.

"Bella, what's up? Where are you?" It was Jake.

I smiled and closed the book, leaving my index finger in between the pages I was currently reading.

"Hey Jake, I'm at the bookstore. What are you up to?" I replied.

"Not much, stopped by your house, but I didn't see your truck. Did you want to come out to my house? I want a rematch on the game." He said.

I was sorta hesitant, but I figured I couldn't hide at the bookstore all day.

"Yeah, sure. I guess I could head over to you in a few minutes." I said.

"Cool. I'll see you when you get there." He said and hung up.

I shook my head and sighed before standing up and moving to replace the book. Mike was at my side before I knew it.

"Not going to buy it today?" He asked.

"Whoa, sorry no. Maybe next time?" I said.

"Ok. I guess you're leaving?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'll see you next time." I responded and headed out of the store.

I got into my truck and headed off towards the reservation. Pulling onto the highway, I turned to see the Cullen's car flying by. I blinked and wondered what was going on for a brief minute before I figured that Dr. Cullen was probably going to work. A few minutes later I was just pulling in front of Jake's house when my phone rang a third time. Man I felt a little popular today.

"Hello?" I answered and turned off the ignition.

"Bella? Oh Bella." It was Alice.

I blinked and frowned as I got out of the truck.

"Umm… hey Alice, what's wrong?" I asked.

"It's Edward… He… he's…" She started before crying.

I clutched the phone tightly afraid to hear the words that I fretted to hear. Was she going to tell me he was gone? Had he actually finished what he started?

"Alice? What happened to Edward?" I forced myself to ask.

"I don't know. Something happened and now Mom and Dad are rushing him to the hospital. Emmett said he was out cold. He said Mom asked him to help Dad and that Dad only asked him to help get Edward to the car." She cried.

I took a couple deep breaths and tried to calm my racing heart. I looked up to see Jake standing in his front door way, waiting on me to come in. I held up a hand, gesturing that I'd be there in a minute before I continued to talk to Alice.

"Did he look… could Emmett tell if he tried to…?" I asked.

"Emmett doesn't know what happened. He was only told to help Dad. What are we going to do if he tried again and succeeded? Bella… I can't take this. I can't breathe." I heard her gasping and my eyes grew large.

"Alice! Don't you dare give up on me. For all we know he could've been sicker instead of better. Remember Emmett said he was sick? Calm down. You're not doing anyone any favors if you're loosing it." I shouted.

"Alice?" I heard in the background. "Alice!"

I heard the phone fall and a thud.

"Alice!" I heard a scrabbling and a low moan.

"Alice? What's going on?" I called.

There was a brief pause before the sound of the phone being picked up came through.

"Bella?" I knew that voice, it was Emmett.

"Emmett? What's going on? What happened to Alice?" I asked.

"I don't… I don't know. She… I think she passed out. Hold on." He said.

I waited as I heard what sounded like him moving her some place. I couldn't take the suspense any more.

"Emmett! I'm on my way." I yelled into the phone and hung up.

I ran back to my truck and yanked the door open. Jake looked confused for a moment before he ran out towards me.

"What's going on? Where are you going?" He asked.

"I have to go. I'll call you later." I said as I started the truck.

He frowned, but backed away so not to get run over. I backed out of the yard quickly and turned my truck towards the way of the Cullens. Back on the highway, I pushed my truck as fast as it would go. It only took me about ten minutes to make it to the Cullens at that speed. I shut off the engine and ran to the front door once I arrived.

"Emmett? It's me!" I called as I knocked, more like banged, on the door.

I'm not sure how long I stood at the door for, but it didn't seem that long. Emmett looked worried, confused, and a little upset rolled into one. He wasn't sure what to say or do, but he moved out of the doorway to let me in. I immediately ran up the stairs to Alice's room. I stopped as I entered the doorway and just looked at her. She seemed so pale. Emmett must have moved her to her bed. That's where she was laying now. She looked asleep, but I knew better. I slowly walked over to her and looked down at her face. She had bags under her eyes that had been there for who knew how long. I could tell she hadn't been eating still, even after I asked her to. I could only sigh and sat down on the floor beside her bed.

"Bella?" Emmett called quietly.

I looked up to see him standing in the doorway and blinked a few tears back. What was happening to my second family? Edward was trying to kill himself. Alice was practically doing the same thing with her lack of eating. Who knew what Emmett was doing to himself, or what the rest of the Cullens were doing for that matter? I sighed once more and stood to my feet to speak with Emmett out of Alice's room.

"Hey Emmett. I obviously don't know what's going on here, but you mind filling me in?" I asked.

He ran a tired hand through his hair and rubbed at his eyes. I could make out the bags under his eyes as well and moved closer to him. I lifted my right hand to lay against his cheek and he turned his face into it. I then moved close enough to just hug him because at that moment, he looked like he really could've used one. He held onto me so tightly, I thought I was going to be snapped in half. I felt so badly for him.

"Bella… I don't know what to do. I don't even know what's going on. First Edward's whisked out of here so fast… and now Alice… what's going on?" He asked.

I felt so bad for him because I obviously had no idea. I wasn't sure what to tell him.

"Emmett, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I haven't been here. I don't know what to tell you, but maybe you can call your parents and ask them about Edward. As towards Alice, she's ok. She just had a panic attack and passed out. I'm sure some rest and food will help her. What about you? How are you?" I replied.

"Honestly, I don't know. I mean… my little brother tried to kill himself the other day. My sister thinks it's her fault, or more that she should've been able to stop it from happening. My Dad's stressing himself out, pulling himself so thin, trying to find a way to get Edward to be able to walk again, and working late shifts at the hospital. My Mom is hardly a quarter of the woman she used to be. Sure she tries, believe me, I know she tries, but she's not fooling anyone. I don't know what happen to you there for a while. I tell you my brother was sick and you acted like you didn't care. I'm just tired." He replied.

I felt bad. I guess I should've handled the news of Edward being sick differently, but at that time I had turned over a new leaf myself. I wasn't going to let his depression ruin what little of life had left in me. I guess it wasn't really the best choice to make, at least not at that time.

"I'm sorry Emmett." Was all I could say before tightening my hold around him.

He merely sighed and loosened his hold a little.

"It's not your fault. I just got a lot on my mind." He said.

I nodded and released him. Pulling back, I looked at him gave a small smile.

"How about you go try to relax a little, maybe call your parents and see what the deal is." I suggested.

"Yeah, I think I will. I'll let them know about Alice too." He responded and headed downstairs, assumingly to his room.

I took a deep breath and went back into Alice's room. I looked at her a minute longer before I saw that she was waking up.

"Alice?" I called gently.

She frowned a bit before she slowly opened her eyes.

"Hey, you with me?" I asked.

She blinked a few times and then turned her head in my direction.

"Bella?" She asked.

"Yeah, it's me." I said and walked over to her bed.

She slowly sat up and just stared at me for a minute.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

She pulled her legs around and placed them on the floor.

"Not really." She said.

"Oh. What's wrong?" I asked as I moved towards her.

"I'm just so tired. I missed you." She said.

I just looked at her, shocked, for a minute. I then took a seat beside her on her bed. She leaned over and rested her head on my shoulder before I moved my arms up to hold her in a hug. She hugged me back and tears were falling down her face as I looked at her.

"Why is this happening?" She asked no one in particular.

I wasn't sure what to say, so I didn't say anything at all. I merely hugged her a little tighter and sighed.

We sat there in silence just hugging one another for a while before my cell phone rang. I didn't move to answer it at first, but its persistent ringing finally had me pulling away from Alice and seeing who it was. Emmett was in the doorway by then, happy to see his sister awake. I took my phone out of the room and let them talk for a while.

"What is it Jake?" I asked as I finally answer the phone on the sixth set of rings.

"What the hell? You tear out of here like a bat out of hell, saying you'd call me, and then don't answer when I call you?" He responded.

"Sorry, I was kind of busy." I remarked.

"What the hell could you be doing that warrant that behavior? What's going on?" He asked.

"Family stuff really. I said I'd call you, so let me do that. I need to go. I'll call you later." I said and hung up, but not before more protests.

I sighed and moved back into the doorway of Alice's room. She was laying down again, her eyes closed. Emmett was motioning me to follow him downstairs.

"Did you get a hold on your parents?" I asked.

"Yeah." Emmett replied with a sigh and raked a hand over his face.

"And?" I encouraged him to continue.

"It's not good." He responded.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"It's Edward. He's not doing too good." Emmett said and slumped on the coach.

"What do you mean? What happened? What did your parents say?" I asked.

"Well he…" Emmett began, but before he could continue, we heard a scream from what we guessed as Alice's room.

We both took off up the stairs and over to her room.

"Alice? Alice what's wrong?" Emmett asked.

I ran in the room behind him and gasped at what I saw.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading. Let me know how you feel about this chapter.<strong>


	9. Chapter 8

**I thank those of you that are still with me. My computer was down for a little while there, but it's back and I'm workin' on my story as the ideas come to mind. I hope you enjoyed the last chapter and are now ready for this one. Without further adieu…**

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><p><strong>CPV<strong>

There wasn't too much traffic on our way to the hospital. I was very thankful for that. Once we pulled into the emergency parking of the hospital, I left Esme to watch over Edward while I ran inside for a gurney and some help.

"Patrick! I need a hand if you can spare it." I said upon seeing one of my colleagues as I entered the building.

"Anything Carlisle." Patrick replied and followed me outside. "What's going on?"

He asked as we got closer to my car.

"It's my son, Edward. He might've broken or cracked a rib. He's also knocked his head a couple times." I relayed as we reached the car.

"Esme, you remember Patrick?" I commented.

"Yes, of course. Nice to see you again Patrick, I only wish they were on better terms." She replied as she moved out of the way.

I positioned the gurney at the door with hopes of pulling Edward out in one move.

"Alright, I've got his head and shoulders if you'll manage his legs Patrick." I said.

He nodded and moved around to the other side of the car.

"On three then." I said and started counting.

On three, I pulled Edward towards the gurney as Patrick pushed his legs towards me. I heard Edward's sharp intake of air before he moaned and whimpered.

"I'm sorry son. Just a little longer and we'll find out what's wrong." I said softly to him.

We managed to get him on the gurney and headed towards the doors of the hospital when he cried out and tried to find a more comfortable position to lie down in, on his left side.

"Edward!" I called and rested a hand on his forehead.

I actually gasped at the heat I felt pouring off of him.

"Patrick…" I said as I looked up at him from Edward.

I quickly took note of Edward's pulse and didn't like how fast it was going.

"Esme, lock up and head inside." I said and quickly started moving into the hospital and towards the closest nurses' station. "Rachel, which trauma room is available?"

"Oh, Dr. Cullen… umm… looks like trauma unit four is available." She said after typing away on her computer.

"Thank you, we'll be taking that one." I said and immediately headed towards the room.

"I'll handle it from here Carlisle. I'll take good care of your son. You can trust me on that one." Patrick said and I nodded.

Several nurses soon entered the room to help Patrick and I moved out of the way. Taking a deep breath, I stood just outside the door to watch what was going on for a moment longer and gave a silent prayer before I went to find Esme. She was sitting in a chair near the nurses' station and stood up quickly when she saw I was coming.

"Carlisle, is he…" She began, but my phone rang before she could continue.

I frowned and looked down at my phone to see it was Emmett.

"Emmett?" I answered.

"Dad… what's going on? Alice… Alice fainted, or passed out. I think it was too much for her about Edward. What happened to him? Is he… is he ok?" He asked.

"What? Alice fainted?" I asked and ran a hand back and forth over my head.

"Yeah, I think it's the shock of everything that's been going on. She was talking on the phone to Bella…" Emmett was saying. "Dad… what in the world is going on?"

"I'm sorry son. I'm not too sure. Dr. Grayson's working on Edward now. I want to think either a rib is broken or cracked, but we'll be sure once we get an x-ray. "I responded.

"Dad, this is… this is really hard." Emmett said.

I felt so sorry for him and looked to Esme for support.

"I know son, but tell me more about Alice. Is she ok? Do I need to head back there?" I asked.

"No. I've got it. I think she just needs rest or something. I got her as comfortable as I could." Emmett replied.

"If you're sure then, I'll call you back once I have news on Edward. Alright?" I responded.

"Yeah, ok. Sorry." He said.

"Nothing to be sorry for. Take care of yourself and your sister. Be careful. You know we love you right?" I said.

"Yes sir. I'll talk to you later. Bye Dad." He said and hung up.

I sighed and moved towards a chair to sit down and get my thoughts together.

"What was that about Alice fainting?" Esme asked.

"Emmett said all this was too much for her and she fainted." I replied and sighed once more before leaning my head down and placing them in my hands.

This was all too much. My children were suffering and I wasn't sure what to do. Counseling would only do so much. Alice wasn't eating properly, Edward had tried to kill himself for crying out loud, Emmett was taking all this a little better than the rest of us, but who knew how long that would last. My family was falling apart and I wasn't even sure how to fix it. I felt arms wrap around me and I leaned into them. I knew it was my wife. She was always the strong one. I think that's where Emmett got it from.

"I'm sorry love. I wish I could fix all this in one instance, but I don't know how." I whispered.

"It's alright honey. We've got to do this one step at a time. Let's take care of Edward first and then we'll see about Alice. Emmett's got her for now. I have you." She said.

I leaned back to look at her and couldn't help the chuckle that escaped. I knew that was part of the reason I loved this woman. I leaned my forehead against hers and just stayed that way for what seemed like forever.

"Thank you." I said.

She merely smiled and kissed my lips softly. I would've wanted more, but I heard footsteps walking in our direction.

"Carlisle?" I heard and pulled away from Esme to look at Patrick.

"Patrick? What's the verdict?" I asked as I stood to my feet.

"You were right, seven and eight were cracked on his right posterior side while number nine is actually broken. He's got a slight concussion, but he'll be alright. We found his fever to be caused by the bit of pneumonia that's taken up residence in his chest. We've started him on antibiotics and wrapped his ribs so that he's not uncomfortable. They should heal four to eight weeks. We'll keep him for a day or two though I don't like the temperature of his fever. The antibiotics should knock it down, but I want to keep an eye on it." Patrick reported.

"Thank you Patrick. May we go see him?" I asked.

"Of course. I believe the nurses are moving him to his room as we speak. Give them a couple more minutes and we'll have you up there beside him in no time." Patrick said.

"Thanks again." I said and shook his hand.

Esme and I watched as he walked off to tend to other rounds before we went to find out what room Edward had been moved into. One of the nurses led us there and left us to check in on Edward.

"He's asleep for now. Let us know if you need anything Dr. Cullen." The nurse said and left.

I thanked her before she left and turned to look at my son. He looked a little pale, but his cheeks were flushed from heat and there was sweat on his forehead.

"My poor little boy." Esme said as she moved over to his side and rested a hand on his shoulder.

I moved to the bathroom and grabbed a paper towel before wetting it and moving back into the room to wipe up the sweat from his forehead. His breath was a little labored, but I could only guess that was because the medicine hadn't kicked in yet. As if feeling our presence, Edward turned his head towards us and slowly opened his eyes.

"D-Dad…" He started, but winced and attempted to turn from the pain of his ribs in his back. "Mo-Mommy."

He tried to open his eyes, but I guessed the light was too bright and quickly walked over to turn them down. He licked his lips and tried to speak again.

"H-Hurts. It's… hard… to… breathe." He managed.

"I know son. You've got to give the medicine a chance to flow through your system." I said and walked outside the room to do just that. "It's hard for you to breathe right now because you've broken and cracked some ribs."

I reached over and placed the nasal cannula around his nose for him so that he had a better chance to get air into his lungs. He coughed and winced in pain, but after a few minutes he was able to calm down a bit. I breathed a sigh of relief and guessed the medicine was finally moving in his system as I watched him try to fight sleep a few times before succumbing to its plea. I looked over at Esme. She was looking down at our son. I chose that moment to step out and call Emmett to update him and to find out if Alice was still doing ok.

"Hello?" Someone answered.

I blinked confused for a moment.

"Umm… hello?" I questioned.

"Carlisle, I'm sorry, this is Bella. Emmett's out so I answered the phone. I hope that was alright." She said.

"Oh, Bella. I thought I had a wrong number there for a minute. Is he ok? What about Alice? How are you?" I asked.

"He was tired and fell asleep. Alice is resting too. I'm… I'm ok." She responded.

"That's good to hear." I said.

"How… how's Edward? Is Esme ok? Are you?" She asked me.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as I thought about my response.

"Edward's got a couple cracked ribs, a broken one, and he's fighting pneumonia. Esme's with him now. She's the strongest woman I know and she's taking it rather well. I… I'm alright. Just… tired." I finally said.

It was as if saying the words made it come to term because the next thing I knew, I needed a chair or a bed even. Frowning slightly as my vision doubled for a minute, I quickly looked back to the door of Edward's room and saw it open.

"Honey?" I heard.

"Es-Esme…" I said and took a step towards her before I collapsed.

"Carlisle? Carlisle?" I couldn't tell if that was the phone or my wife, but I wasn't able to answer either one of them.

I closed my eyes and saw, nor heard, anything more.

**Esme's POV**

I sat with Edward as I watched Carlisle walk out the room, cell phone in hand. I assumed he was updating the kids on their brother. I hoped he's get an update on Alice as well. I turned my attention back to Edward and watched him sleep for a while. I was happy he wasn't visibly in any pain. I sighed and gave a silent prayer of thanks for that. Grabbing hold of his hand, I held it for a moment while I watched him some more. I hated things had gotten to the point that he felt that ending his life early was the only way out. A tear slipped down my left eye. Carlisle said I was strong, but it was only because I had to be. I sighed and wiped the tear away before leaning down to kiss Edward on his cheek. I needed to use the restroom so I walked into it and did my business before washing my hands and coming out. I walked back over to Edward and sat down beside him again. I had to believe about ten to fifteen minutes had gone by so I figured I'd look for Carlisle and see if there was any word. I had just opened the door and saw him standing there before I felt something was wrong.

"Honey?" I called.

"Es-Esme…" He started and then collapsed.

I gasped and quickly walked over to him before kneeling down and calling his name. I heard someone else calling his name as well and looked to see that his phone was still connected to a call.

"Hello?" I asked as I picked up the phone.

"Esme?" The voice asked.

"Bella?" I gasped.

"Esme, what's going on?" She asked.

"I'll have to call you back. Something's wrong with Carlisle." I said.

I heard her gasp.

"Of course. Please call us back later." She said and hung up.

I nodded, but knew she didn't see it. I turned to look at the nurse that had run over and joined me.

"Mrs. Cullen? What happened?" She asked me.

"I'm not sure. I opened the door to my son's room and he just collapsed." I responded.

Another nurse showed up and I realized it to be Rachel.

"Page Dr. Grayson." Rachel said to the other nurse.

The other nurse nodded and quickly got up and moved to a phone.

"_Paging Dr. Grayson to ICU. Paging Dr. Grayson to ICU."_

I heard over the intercom.

"Dr. Cullen, can you hear me? Dr. Cullen?" Rachel called.

He wasn't responding, but I didn't want to panic just yet. About two other nurses showed up, one of them male, to help move Carlisle off the floor. They had him on a gurney in seconds, but waited for Patrick to show up for instructions on how to handle him. Patrick showed up at a walk, five minutes later, but when he saw me standing there holding onto someone and a few nurses standing near me he quickened his steps.

"Esme, what happened? Carlisle?" Patrick asked when he saw who was on the gurney.

He quickly attempted to shake his shoulder in order to wake him up, but it had no effect. He then pulled out a pen and shined it in Carlisle eyes after lifting his eyelids. He said the pupils responded as they should so there wasn't anything to really worry about.

"We can run some tests, but I really want to believe he's just really overworked and tired. If the bags under his eyes don't speak volumes, we have records of the hours he's been working, non-stop I might add.

"I'm not sure how I want to proceed, but I think I'd rather be safe than sorry, so I'll ask if you'd run those tests." I said.

Patrick nodded and started having the nurses get Carlisle towards the location they were going to perform the tests. I sighed and turned back to Edward's room. There wasn't much I could do at that point. I felt something hard in my right hand and looked down to see that Carlisle's phone was still in my hand. I closed my eyes tightly for a minute and sighed before I put it in my pocket. Moving towards the chair that sat beside Edward's bed, I sat down for a minute and closed my eyes again.

Some time had passed and I wasn't sure what time it was, but looking over at Edward, I noted he had his eyes open and seemed confused.

"Edward?" I asked quietly.

"Mom?" He whispered.

"That's right sweetheart. Do you know where you are?" I asked.

"I… I'm in the hospital? What happened?" He asked.

"That's right sweetie. Looks like you cracked a couple of ribs and managed to break one as well. You also have a touch of pneumonia." I relayed.

"Oh." Was all he said.

I noted the frown on his face and rested my hand on his forehead. His fever wasn't as high, but it was still above 100.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Where's Dad? Wasn't he here too?" He asked.

"Yes sweetheart, he was. He…" I started but had to think of how to finish it.

"He what Mom?" Edward questioned.

"Well, he collapsed in the hallway. Dr. Grayson is making sure that it was just out of fatigue and nothing more." I said quickly as I noted the agitation in his eyes. "He'll be ok with a bit of rest."

Edward tried to get up, but cried out in pain and rolled away from me. I quickly stood and left the room to head towards the nurse's station.

"I'm sorry I'm not sure how long it's been, but my son's in pain again. Is there something that you can give him?" I asked.

"Oh, yes Mrs. Cullen. I'll be right there." The nurse said.

"Thank you. Also, has there been any word on my husband?" I asked.

"No ma'am. I'm sorry." She said and went to get the medicine for Edward.

I nodded and went back to his room. I walked over to Edward and took his hand in my. He squeezed tightly and apologized. I noticed the tear lines and was sad.

"Hold on a little longer baby. The nurse is going to bring you something for the pain." I said.

As if an answer to my prayer, the nurse walked in, needle in hand, and walked right over to the bed.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Cullen. I need to get to the IV really quick." She said.

I moved out of the way and she quickly administered the drug for Edward. I thanked her and watched her leave before turning back to Edward to see if the medicine was working. It seemed to kick in five minutes later as his grip on my hand loosened. I sighed with relief and sat down.

"Thanks… Mom." Edward said and passed out.

I was worried for a minute, but it seemed he was merely sleeping. Just then the door opened and in came a bed before I noted it was my husband on it.

"Mrs. Cullen, he's iron was a little low, but other than that the tests came back negative for anything to worry about. He just needs a good nights sleep and he'll be back to the man you and I, as well as this hospital, know." Dr. Grayson said.

"Thank you so much. Both my husband and son are in your care and I'm sorry to have added so much on your plate." I said.

"Oh no trouble at all. I'm just glad I was here so that I could help them both. How's Edward doing?" Dr. Grayson asked.

"I had to ask the nurse for some more pain meds, but he looks like he's sleeping peacefully now." I replied.

I watched as Patrick walked over to him and laid a gentle hand on his forehead.

"Hummm… fever's still a bit high, but I suspect it's time for another round of antibiotics. I'll see to it that a nurse brings that right in." He said.

Once the nurses were done pushing Carlisle's bed in and made sure that he was comfy, I walked over to him laid a gentle kiss on his forehead. He sighed and turned my way before falling even deeper into sleep. I smiled and turned back to Patrick.

"Thank you." I mouthed before smiling.

He nodded and said he'd be in to check in on us later. A nurse walked in with a needle telling me that Patrick had asked for it to be administered to Edward. I knew it to be the antibiotics that he said earlier and nodded. She administered the medicine and left the room quietly. I sighed and looked at Carlisle for a minute longer before moving back over to Edward.

"My poor boys. What will I do with the two of you?" I asked no one in particular, but it was still met with the soft snores from both of them.

I giggled and shook my head before leaning against Edward's mattress and falling asleep.

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><p><strong>Thanks to fact[dot] org for giving me some of the medical advice I needed. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I can't really promise to have the next chapter up before Christmas, but I'll try. If not, Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!<strong>


	10. Chapter 9

**Hello! I managed to get this one in as I hoped. Yay! Hope you enjoy it!**

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><p><strong>BPV<strong>

Alice was up on her bed pointing and screaming.

"Emmett! Kill it! Oh my gosh! Why were those things even allowed to be created? Ewwww! Kill it!"

Emmett moved further into the room and stomped down on what I managed to glimpse to be a roach. I felt a shiver go down my back and turned away.

"There it's dead. Geez! I thought something was seriously wrong." Emmett said.

He walked into her bathroom and got a piece of tissue to pick up the dead body before throwing it in the toilet and flushing.

"It was something serious!" Alice murmured and shuddered.

Emmett just shook his head and sighed before sitting down on the edge of her bed. Alice looked at her older brother and moved over to hug him. I watched the two of them and gave a small smile.

"Thank you Emmett." Alice said and kissed his cheek.

Emmett rolled his eyes and I laughed. I quickly sobered, however, when I realized Emmett was about to tell me what happened to Edward.

"So what's wrong with Edward?" I asked.

Alice looked at Emmett, waiting to hear the news as well. Emmett took a deep breath and then began.

"Dad says he didn't know for sure, but he wants to believe Edward might've broken or cracked a rib or two. They had just gotten there so..." Emmett said with a sigh and placed his head in his hands.

"Well, I'm sure they'll let us know once they get information." I said.

"Yeah." Alice said and hugged her brother tighter.

"Alice, you probably fainted from all the stress, but I'm sure you need to eat something too. Let's grab a bowl of soup or something. Please?" I asked.

At that point, Emmett's stomach growled and we looked at each other before bursting out laughing.

"I'm gonna need more than just soup." Emmett commented and stood up.

Alice didn't let go and ended up piggy back riding down to the kitchen. I followed behind making sure the two of them didn't fall. Once we reached the kitchen, I looked in the pantry for all the soups. I didn't want to force Alice to eat something heavy, so I went with vegetable soup. Emmett searched the refrigerator for lunch meat and made himself a ridiculous sandwich. Once the soup was heated, I grabbed a small bowl for Alice and then one for myself. We all sat at the table and ate our lunches. After a while, the two of them started to yawn so I told them to catch a nap while I cleaned up.

Once the dishes were done and I walked up to Alice's room to see that she was asleep and then down to Emmett's room to check on him. He was also asleep so I walked back to the living room and called Jake.

"About time!" He yelled.

I had to pull the phone away from my ear for a minute.

"Geez! I'm sorry if there was a lot going on. I told you I'd call you back. Here I am calling you back." I said.

"So what happened? Where are you?" He asked.

"I'm at the Cullens. Edward had to be taken to the hospital, there's no word on what exactly happened, but his dad thinks it maybe a broken or cracked rib." I said.

"Oh, that sucks." Jake said.

"Yeah. Alice then decided that she wanted to just faint and Emmett wasn't too sure what to do, so that's why I left you so quickly." I continued.

"Oooohh. Is she ok?" He asked.

"Yeah, she's resting now. I managed to get her to eat a little soup." I said.

"Ah well, if they're alright, when are you coming back? Or should we postpone this for another day?" He asked me.

"We'd better postpone. I still haven't heard what the verdict is on Edward and at the moment, I'm not sure I should leave these guys alone." I said.

"What are you talking about? Emmett's there isn't he? He's a big boy. He can take care of himself." Jake was saying.

"I'm well aware of that Jake, but you weren't here just a few minutes ago. You don't know the whole story, or the behind the scene parts." I said slightly annoyed.

"Yeah well, let me know if you need anything. I'll talk to you later." He said.

"Yeah, later." I replied and we hung up.

I sighed and stretched out on the couch for a minute. I then heard a phone ringing and realized it was Emmett's. He'd left it on the table out here. I wasn't too sure what to do, but I picked it up and answered.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Umm… hello?" The voice said and I realized it was Carlisle.

"Carlisle, I'm sorry, this is Bella. Emmett's out so I answered the phone. I hope that was alright." I said.

"Oh, Bella. I thought I had the wrong number there for a minute. Is he ok? What about Alice? How are you?" He asked.

I took a deep breath and sighed.

"He was tired and fell asleep. Alice is resting too. I'm… I'm ok." I responded.

"That's good to hear." He said.

"How… how's Edward? Is Esme ok? Are you?" I asked.

He took a deep breath and I waited.

"Edward's got a couple cracked ribs, a broken one, and he's fighting pneumonia. Esme's with him now. She's the strongest woman I know and she's taking it rather well. I… I'm alright. Just… tired." He said.

I was sad to hear him admit it, but happy at the same time.

"_Honey"_ I heard in the background.

Must be Esme.

"Es-Esme…" I heard on the phone, but then I heard something fall.

I frowned and tried to hear anything, but I couldn't.

"Carlisle? Carlisle?" I called.

There wasn't a response and I pulled the phone away from me long enough to make sure I hadn't hung up on him.

"Hello?" I heard and smiled.

"Esme?" I asked.

"Bella?" She gasped.

"Esme, what's going on?" I asked, the smile gone from my voice.

"I'll have to call you back. Something's wrong with Carlisle." She said.

I gasped.

"Of course. Please call us back later." I said and hung up.

What the heck? First it was Edward, and then Alice, and now Carlisle? I replaced Emmett's phone where I found it and curled up into a ball on the couch.

"What the heck is going on?" I asked.

"I don't know, you tell me."

I jumped about a foot in the air and turned around to see Emmett standing there. I grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. Of course he caught it, but it was still somewhat of a reliever.

"I don't want to be number four!" I practically yelled at him.

He merely looked at me as if I had grown another head.

"What are you talking about? Who was that on the phone?" He asked.

I took a minute to let my heart stop racing and then motioned for him to sit down.

"That was your dad, at first. He said that Edward suffered two cracked ribs and a broken one. He's also fighting pneumonia." I said once Emmett sat down.

He frowned and sighed.

"Well, those can heal in time and he's in the right place for the meds. What do you mean that was my Dad at first?" He asked.

"Your Mom got on after it turned out your dad collapsed. She said she'd call back later." I relayed quietly.

I could barely stand to look at Emmett. He was just so quiet and the next thing I knew he was up quickly and ran from the room.

"Emmett?" I called and ran after him.

He ran into the gym and just started throwing punches at the boxing bag. I felt sorry for the bag, but I was slowly worrying about Emmett using his bare hands instead of using the gloves. He was waling so hard into it.

"Emmett!" I called again and ran over to him to stop him.

He moved around to another side and hit the bag hard enough to knock into me and knock me on my ass.

"Oww." I cried and that seemed to bring Emmett out of his rage.

"Bella? I'm sorry. I didn't see you there. Are you ok?" He asked.

I rubbed my butt for a minute and slowly got to my feet with his help.

"Yeah… I'll live. Sorry, but… your hands." I said and pointed.

He looked down at them and noted the blood. With a shrug, he walked over to the nearest sink and washed them off before going into the cabinet to pull out the first- aid kit. He let me apply ointment on his hands for him and then I wrapped them.

"Thanks." He said as he looked down at my work. "You'd make a good nurse."

He said with a chuckle.

I merely shook my head and rolled my eyes before turning away and heading back towards the living room. I saw Alice looking around and wondered if she was looking for us.

"Alice?" I called.

She jumped.

"There you are! I was looking all over for you. What were you guys doing?" She asked.

I told her to sit down and gave her the update that I'd given Emmett. She had tears down her face once I had finished.

"Why us? What have we done to deserve this?" She questioned.

"Nothing. I'm sure there's a reason for all this, I just don't know what it is." I said.

"How about we head to the hospital? That way we don't have to wait around for a phone call. We could check in on the both of them." Emmett suggested.

I was a bit hesitant. It was one thing to be here for them, but I wasn't sure I wanted to see Edward. Oh who was I kidding, I probably wanted to see him more out of everyone in the room. Sighing, I nodded and looked to see if Alice needed any further convincing. She was already out the door towards the garage, coat in hand. I blinked and followed leaving Emmett to lock up once he walked out behind me.

"I hope they're ok." Alice said quietly as we got into Emmett's car and headed towards the hospital.

Once we reached the hospital, we called Mrs. Cullen to see which room everyone was in. With luck, both Edward and Dr. Cullen were in the same room. We headed up to ICU to see about everyone.

"Oh Alice, Emmett." Mrs. Cullen said as she saw us approaching.

She'd left the room in order to find us. She hugged her children tightly and gave an extra squeeze to Alice. She frowned, a bit, as she looked at her daughter, but she merely shook her head and turned her attention to me.

"Bella." She said and reached out her arms to me.

I stepped into her out stretched arms and allowed her to engulf me in a hug.

"Mrs. Cullen, how are they? Are they alright?" I asked.

She looked at each of us and sighed.

"You're father's resting peacefully" She said to her children. "Edward, however, hasn't woken up yet. He doesn't seem to be responding to the medicine too well. Dr. Grayson is seeing what we can switch him over to."

We started for the room and quietly went inside. I stood at the door a bit longer before I went in. My main focus was on Edward, but I forced myself to look at Dr. Cullen. He did look as if he was sleeping peacefully, but it was sad that it took a crash for him to get the proper rest he should've been getting at home. Emmett moved closer to his dad while Alice and I went over to Edward. I took a deep breath as I looked at him. There was sweat on his forehead and he didn't seem to be resting very well. His face was scrunched up in pain and he jerked as if he was having a bad dream. Suddenly his eyes flew open and he gasped in pain before he started gasping for air.

"Mom?" Alice called.

Mrs. Cullen quickly moved over to Edward to see what was wrong, but quickly asked me to get at nurse soon after.

I left the room and called for a nurse before returning to the room. The nurse took in the situation and paged Dr. Grayson. He entered the room five minutes later and requested the nurse to bring him two types of medicine. We were ushered out into the hall and left praying whatever was going on helped.

We stood there waiting for news and praying.

Dr. Grayson came back out of the room a few minutes later and walked over to us.

"I'm trying something a little different. He seems to be reacting to this medicine a little better, but we'll have better results in a few minutes or so." He said.

We all sighed and I looked at each person's face for a minute. I felt so sorry for the family. Any other time, they were constantly happy, the perfect family. Looking at them now however, it was hard to tell. I mean they were still the perfect family, the proof was in the fact that they were all here, waiting to find out what was going on with their sick family members. I stood up intending to get some fresh air. I walked to the elevators and rode one down to the main floor. I exited the elevator and walked towards the entrance doors of the hospital and looked left then right. Seeing a bench towards the right, I went that way and sat down. This was all too much.

"What is going on?" I asked out loud.

Just then my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket to see that it was Charlie calling. I blinked a few times and answered.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Bella? Were you on your way home anytime soon?" He asked.

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry. So much has happened, I haven't had the chance to talk to you." I said.

"Well, now could be a good time." He said.

I told him everything and was shocked at the tears that were flowing down my face once I'd reached the end. He was silent for a while. I thought I might've hung up on him at one point, but I heard him take a breath before he started to say something.

"Bella, tell the Cullens I'm sorry that they are going through all this. Man, I'm glad they have you to rely on. I won't say I told you so, but I'm glad you're there. Take care of yourself now." Charlie replied.

"Thanks Dad." I said with a sigh.

"No problem. Call me if you need me." He said and hung up.

I nodded, but knew he couldn't see me. Replacing the phone in my pocket, I leaned my head against the wall and sighed again.

"Everything alright?" a voice asked.

I jumped and turned my head to see Emmett joining me.

"Oh, Emmett, are they ok?" I asked as I started to get to my feet.

"Yeah, the medicine's working better for Edward and Dad's just getting some much needed sleep. How are things on your end?" He replied.

"Oh good. That's good. Umm… Charlie was just checkin' on. I updated him on what's going on." I responded.

Emmett nodded. I quickly remembered the tears and wiped my face.

"It's cool Bella. I'd feel kind of bad is you didn't shed any." He said and reached over to hug me.

I stood there in his embrace for a while. With a sigh, I figured we should get back upstairs and see what had been going on while we were going.

"Come on. Let's go check up on everyone." Emmett said.

I nodded and we headed back inside.

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><p><strong>Thank you so much for reading this chapter and my last ones. I managed to get this in and think of it as an early birthday present to myself. XD Leave me a review as a present? Thanks again. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!<strong>


	11. Chapter 10

**Whoot! The last update in this year. I'm glad I made it back here to be able to do it. I can only hope you all bring in the New Year safely and have fun! Here's the new chapter!**

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><p><strong>Esme's POV<strong>

I was so happy to see my children when they showed up at the hospital. It was hard, as a mother, to worry about them all and not be able to go to them. I looked at Alice and was sad at what I saw, but I quickly pulled her into a hug and gave one to Emmett as well. I looked at them a minute longer before I turned to look at Bella.

"Bella." I said as I reached out my arms for her.

She was like another of my children and I was just so happy, I gave her a hug as well.

"Mrs. Cullen, how are they? Are they alright?" Bella asked me.

I looked at each of them and sighed.

"You're father's resting peacefully. Edward, however, hasn't woken up yet. He doesn't seem to be responding to the medicine too well. Dr. Grayson is seeing what we can switch him over to." I said.

This was really hard. I could tell. We headed towards the room and I ushered everyone inside. I stood over by Carlisle with Emmett while Alice and Bella went to see about Edward. I was just about to say something when I heard a gasp of pain and turned around towards Edward.

"Mom?" Alice called.

I quickly moved over to Edward to see what was wrong, but asked Bella to find a nurse. I moved around Alice and placed a hand gently on Edward's shoulder.

"Edward? Sweetheart? What's wrong? What is it?" I asked.

He couldn't seem to answer me, but Dr. Grayson had shown up at this point. We were quickly ushered out of the room and into the hallway. I wasn't sure what to do, but I held onto Alice while we sat there waiting on news. I quickly looked up as the door to the room opened and Dr. Grayson walked out.

"I'm trying something a little different. He seems to be reacting to this medicine a little better, but we'll have better results in a few minutes or so." He said.

I sighed closed my eyes giving a silent prayer. I opened them in time to see Bella walking away. I guess this was all too much for her. I just held on to Alice as she cried silently. I looked over at Emmett to see he had his head in his hands and turned my attention back to Alice.

"It'll be ok. They both will be ok." I said.

Alice sniffled, but nodded. Emmett nodded his head as well before he stood up.

"I'm gonna go check on Bella. I'll be right back." With that, he walked off.

"Alice, honey, are you alright?" I asked softly.

"I'm fine Mom. It's just so much." She replied.

"I know sweetie. I know, but they are going to be fine. Come on." I said and stood us to our feet so that we could go back into the room.

I held Alice while we walked into the room and couldn't help but notice the weight she had lost. It saddened my heart that she was so thin, but to actually feel her bones where fat should've been. I nearly cried right then, but I had to be strong. I let her go so that she could walk back over to her brother. I turned my attention to Carlisle and was greatly surprised to see his eyes opened and him looking at me.

"Sweetheart?" I called softly.

He blinked and looked at me some more before slowly reaching out his right hand. I gasped and quickly moved to take it.

"Wh-what happened?" He asked quietly.

I couldn't help the tear that escaped down my cheek as I held onto his hand. He turned his head to try to clear his throat, but ended up coughing. I quickly set about getting him a cup of water so that he could talk freely.

"Oh, Carlisle, I'm so happy to see that you're alright." I said.

He took several sips and thanked me when he had finished with the water. I quickly put it down on the table beside him and took his hand once more.

"Daddy?" I turned to see Alice standing at the curtain between the two beds.

I motioned for her to come over and she burst into tears while running over to her father. I could only smile and wipe away a few more tears that had fallen while watching them.

"Daddy. I'm so glad you're ok." Alice said.

"Me too." Carlisle said.

I smiled at them as they hugged and let them have a moment before going over to see about Edward. I heard them speaking to each other, but my focus was on Edward's face. He seemed peaceful now. I didn't see a trace of pain and was thankful the new medicine was working. I held my breath as I watched him shift and then wince, but he settled once more. I watched him a bit longer before Alice came up and told me Carlisle wanted to see me. I quickly moved around the curtain and back over to my husband's side.

"Yes sweetheart?" I asked.

"I just wanted to apologize for putting you through all this. I'm sorry I didn't take better care of myself and ended up worrying you even more. I should've known I needed to slow down, but… will you forgive me?" He asked as he looked at me.

I looked at him for a moment, the memories of the past few months running through my head. I was sad for a while, but I nodded and bent down to hug him tightly.

"Of course I'll forgive you as long as you take it easy from now on. I know you want to help Edward, but you can't do it all on your own, and you can't do it if you make yourself sick." I said.

He nodded and I leaned down to kiss him. Just as I pulled away, Dr. Grayson walked into the room.

"Oh Carlisle, it's good to see you awake. How are you feeling?" He asked.

"A bit tired, but ok." He replied.

Dr. Grayson walked over to Carlisle and I moved out of the way. He checked over Carlisle and smiled.

"Looks like you'll be fine. Just make sure you take a few days and rest. Your iron was a little low, but I'm sure you'll take care of that." Dr. Grayson said.

Carlisle nodded.

"Thank you doctor." I said with a smile.

"What's the word on Edward? How is he?" Carlisle asked.

"Well, things were rocky before, but I believe this medicine is working now. He seems to be improving, but we won't really know the results until a little while from now." Dr. Grayson said.

"I see." Carlisle replied.

He yawned and frowned a little. It was actually a bit cute, because I knew how tired he was still.

"Why don't you rest and we'll talk more later?" Dr. Grayson said.

I nodded and looked at Carlisle. With a sigh, he rubbed his head and nodded knowing that he was indeed tired.

"Alright, I'll talk to you two later." With that, Dr. Grayson left and I turned my attention back to Carlisle.

"I'll leave you to rest. We'll be right over here." I said.

He nodded again, unable to fight sleep, and fell asleep.

I tucked the covers in around him and moved over to see about Alice and Edward. I smiled as I looked at the pair of them. Alice had somehow maneuvered her way into the bed beside Edward and was asleep with him. She's curled herself around him and he had his right arm curled around her. They looked so cute, but I wasn't too sure if a nurse would find the picture as cute as I did. I'm sure they'd be worried about Edward and all the wired connected up to him. I quietly moved over to the side Alice was on and shook her.

"Sweetheart, you're probably not ok to sleep here. Come on." I said gently as I shook her.

She frowned, but slowly woke up.

"Huh?" She asked.

"You probably can't sleep here. You have to get up before a nurse sees you." I said.

"'m comfy." She murmured.

I smiled and hated to wake her, but I knew I had to.

"Come on." I said and started to pull her up and out of the bed.

"Where…where we going?" She asked with a yawn.

"I'm going to have Emmett take you home so you can go to sleep in your bed." I said.

There was a knock on the door and a nurse walked in to check on Edward's vitals.

"Well, everything looks good. I'll come back later to check on him again." She said and walked out the door. "Oh, excuse me."

Bella and Emmett were at the door then and I smiled.

"Your father was awake for a while there, but he's gone back to sleep now." I said.

"He was? That's great! So he's ok?" Emmett asked and walked over to his father for a minute, but turned his attention back to me.

I nodded and smiled.

"I need you to take Alice home so that she can sleep in her own bed." I said.

"I don't wanna. I'm fine here. Edward needs me." Alice mumbled.

I gave her a sympathetic look and gently pushed her over to her older brother. Emmett gently picked her up bridal style and leaned over to kiss me on the cheek.

"I'll see that she gets home ok. We'll be back later Mom." He said.

"Alright. You guys be careful. Thank you so much again Bella." I said and hugged her once more before they left.

"No problem Mrs. Cullen." She said.

I turned to look at my two boys in their beds and figured it was ok to walk the others out. I walked them to Emmett's car and hugged them all in turn once more, save Alice as she was already asleep again so I just kissed her on her forehead, before watching them pull away and headed back into the hospital. I was pretty hungry, so I figured I'd grab something from the hospital cafeteria. I chose a sandwich and gobbled that down, not knowing I'd been so hungry. Then I went back up to Edward's and Carlisle's room and sat down once more watching over the both of them.

"Goodnight boys." I said and closed my eyes.

**Emmett's POV**

After checking on Bella, I figured I should get us something to eat. It had been a while since that soup and sandwich we'd had earlier. I steered Bella towards the cafeteria and managed to get her to eat something while I ate a sandwich. We sat there for a while and just talked. She told me about her worried and I told her about mine. That's what I always liked about Bella. She was like another little sister and I could talk to her about things I felt I couldn't tell the rest of the family. I mean, I knew she wouldn't tell anyone else and we were just cool.

"So do you think we'll be able to find a way to help Edward?" I asked.

"I wish I knew what all you're Dad's done in means of research." Bella said.

"I'm sure once he wakes up, we can talk to him. Maybe he'll give us an idea of what's going on. Maybe even he'll feel that a new pair of eyes can help him. Especially after what's happened, I can only hope he'll take it easy from now on. That was really scary Bella. I mean it's one thing for Edward to be sick, but to go from Alice and then my Dad too. That's not something I want to get used to, ever. I can see why it happened, maybe even how it happened, but for it to have happened and no one to do something about it before it got this far… what if my Mom's next? You see how she's been affected…" I said.

Bella nodded in understanding and I was just happy I didn't have to explain it out for her. Sighing, I figured we'd been down there long enough and decided to go up and see how my Mom was with everything. As we got to the room, we ran into the nurse leaving and looked over to my Mom. She was smiling and I was wondering why.

"Your father was awake for a while there, but he's gone back to sleep now." She said.

"He was? That's great! So he's ok?" I asked and walked over to Dad for a minute, but turned my attention back to Mom.

She nodded and smiled.

"I need you to take Alice home so that she can sleep in her own bed." She said.

"I don't wanna. I'm fine here. Edward needs me." Alice mumbled.

I noticed Mom give her a sympathetic look. Then she gently pushed Alice over to me. I gently picked her up bridal style and leaned over to kiss Mom on the cheek.

"I'll see that she gets home ok. We'll be back later Mom." I said.

"Alright. You guys be careful. Thank you so much again Bella." She said and hugged us once more before we left.

"No problem Mrs. Cullen." Bella said.

We walked out the hospital, Mom in tow, and I settled Alice in before turning for one more hug from Mom before we left the hospital parking lot. Once we pulled up to the house a little while later, I got Alice inside and up to her bed. Bella walked behind me for a while and hugged Alice before leaving her room.

"Thanks for being with us today Bella." I said.

"No problem. I guess you'll let me know if things are better and if Carlisle let's you look into his notes?" She asked.

I frowned at her a minute.

"What do you mean? You're not going with us to see them tomorrow?" I asked.

"Oh, I just figured you'd want family time. I mean, I feel like I've been in the way." She was saying.

"Bella, what are you talking about? You are family." I said with a frown.

She blushed at that and I merely raised an eyebrow.

"I wasn't… I didn't know… I mean, if it's ok, I'd like to go with you guys tomorrow." She said.

"Of course it's ok. Why would you think other wise?" I asked.

She merely shrugged and I decided to just drop it.

"Well, I guess I'll go then. Charlie's worrying. I need to get him updated on everything and it'd probably be a good thing to get some sleep." She said.

I nodded and rubbed my head. We walked towards the door and I held it open while she started out of it.

"Umm… I guess, just let me know when you guys are about to head up there. I'll drive over here and leave my truck." Bella said.

I nodded and watched as she walked to her truck. Once she had it started and was backing out of the driveway, I waved one last time and shut the door.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! Leave me a review. Happy New Year!<strong>


	12. Chapter 11

**First new chapter in the new year. Sorry it took so long. Thank you to those of you that left me a review and messages, I greatly appreciate it! Without further adieu...**

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><p><strong>Edward's POV<strong>

There was pain. Tremendous pain. I couldn't seem to do anything to get rid of it, but I noticed that if I opened my eyes, I could see a light. The light seemed to be really bright, but that wasn't the only thing I noticed. I noticed voices and I managed to open my eyes and see a couple of blurs that I took to be people. Who exactly were they? At that point it didn't matter, I gasped out from the pain and tried to grab onto something, anything.

"Edward? Sweetheart? What's wrong?" I heard.

I couldn't answer due to the pain. I tried to. Honestly I did, but it was just so much pain. Soon after there was a cooling sensation and I was tired. The pain was bearable at this point and my eyelids just closed. Time seemed to pass because I awoke to a body pressing itself into me. I frowned in confusion, but heard a gently voice. Then felt the body stopped moving and curled up into me. I managed to move my arm around it, pulling it in close, and fell asleep once more.

"Sweetheart, you're probably not ok to sleep here. Come on." A voice said.

Not long after, I felt the body, the warmth, leaving me and I couldn't wake myself up enough to fight for it to stay. I could only curl into where the warmth had once been and fell deeper into sleep once more.

"_Get your sorry ass up. What are you going to sleep until you die? Would you like me to arrange that for you?"_ My inner self said.

"I thought you were gone. I guess I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up." I said.

I slowly opened my eyes once more and winced at the pain the motion brought. I managed to look up at the ceiling and blinked. I quickly remembered where I was and frowned.

"Oh! You're awake. How are you feeling?" A voice said to me.

I turned my eyes to see that it was a female nurse and merely blinked at her.

"Can you hear me?" She asked.

I continued to just look at her a moment, but then I started to take in a breath and my side chose that moment to spasm in pain and I choked. What little air I managed to get in my lungs came out in force and I curled up as the pain continued to move within my body.

"Oh! I'll be right back." Then she left me.

I reached out a hand as if trying to stop her, but it did nothing but add to the pain more and I was only able to curl over and feel a tear fall out the corner of my eye. She returned quickly with a doctor and he came up to the bed.

"Edward? Can you hear me?" He asked before turning to the nurse to request some medicine to get me.

He tried to roll me out of my ball and I let him. Another female nurse came up on the other side of me and wiped at the sweat that had formed on my forehead. The previous nurse returned with a syringe of medicine and administered it into my IV. I blinked a few times, trying to gauge what the doctor was doing besides watching the monitors, but I guess the medicine had reached my system because the next thing I know, I passed out.

Upon awaking again, I noted there wasn't much pain this time. I slowly allowed myself a little hope carefully opened an eye. There was a bright light and I closed my eye quickly. Giving myself a quick countdown, I opened my eye again and allowed it to adjust to the lighting. My other eye followed and I blinked a couple times.

"Where am I?" I asked.

There wasn't a response and I sat up. My eyes grew large as I noted a large headstone stood beside me. Taking a longer look, I noted several headstones surrounded me.

"What is this?" I asked again expecting no response.

"You're in between." A voice responded.

I jumped and turned trying to find the source of the voice.

"W-What? What do you mean?" I asked.

I didn't hear anything and moved towards where I hoped was an exit.

"You'd better not go that way." The voice spoke once more.

I quickly stopped in my tracks and turned around.

"What's going on? Who are you? Where are you?" I asked.

When there was no response yet again, I grew angry. I didn't understand what was happening, this whole, answer when you felt like it voice was getting on my nerves and I had to admit… I was pretty scared.

"Hello?" I called.

Nothing.

"Damnit!" I yelled and started off in yet another direction.

I had to assume this way was safe as the voice hasn't said anything for a while, or it was gone. I didn't really care at this point. For all I knew, it could've been a figment of my imagination in the first place.

"I guess you could believe that." There it was again, the voice.

I growled lowly, but continued to walk, ignoring it.

"That's not very nice. Especially when I'm trying to help you." It said.

"You want to help? Go away!" I yelled turning to where I thought it was coming from.

Not paying attention, I tripped over a headstone and fell face first in front of another. I roughly pushed myself up, but took note of the name on the stone.

Here lies

Elizabeth Rose Cullen

Beloved Mother, Grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend.

I frowned while reading the birth date and death date before realizing who it was.

"Grandma?" I asked no one in particular.

"Hello dear." The voice said and a body appeared in front of me.

"Holy shit."

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><p><strong>Sorry it's so short. Hopefully the next chapter won't take so long to get posted. Thanks for reading!<strong>


	13. Chapter 12

**Hello all you wonderful people. I apologize for keeping you waiting. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!**

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><p><strong>Alice's POV<strong>

It didn't take me long to head towards the door once the suggestion of going to the hospital ourselves was made. I headed off towards the garage and towards Emmett's car. I stood at the side of the front passenger's door while waiting for the other two to catch up. Soon we were on our way to the hospital and hopefully to more answers.

I gladly hugged my Mom in return once she saw us. She looked so tired. I felt so bad for her.

"You're father's resting peacefully," Mom said.

I about jumped for joy.

"Edward, however hasn't woken up yet. He doesn't seem to be responding to the medicine too well. Dr. Grayson is seeing what we can switch him over to." Mom she continued.

My spirit seemed to crush at that. Edward's my little brother. I love him so much. I hated what was happening. We soon moved towards the room and I immediately went over to see about Edward. Don't get me wrong, I was worried about my Dad too, but Edward was on the agenda at the moment. Bella had come with me and we just looked at Edward for a moment. It was hard to see him like this. He looked like he was in pain. Just as I was about to reach over and run my fingers through his hair, he let out a gasp of pain. I frowned and looked at Bella for a second.

"Mom?" I called.

She quickly came over to see what was wrong before asking Bella to find a nurse. It wasn't long before the guy I remembered from a long ago showed up and ushered us out into the hallway. Mom held onto me while we sat there waiting on news. She then drew away from me when the doctor came out. I sat there listening to what was said and blinked as tears came to my eyes.

"It'll be ok. They both will be ok." Mom said.

I merely sniffled, but nodded. What else could I do? I sighed and leaned against mom once she sat down again.

"Alice, honey, are you alright?" She asked me.

"I'm fine Mom. It's just so much." I replied.

"I know sweetie. I know, but they are going to be fine. Come on." She said and we stood to our feet to go back into the room.

Mom held me tightly as we went in. My eyes skimmed over my Dad's way, but my focus was once more on Edward. I made my way back over to him and sat down in the chair that was there. I just looked at him and felt tears start to fall from my eyes. I reached over and laid a hand on his forehead, brushing back his hair a little before I heard a male voice. At first I thought maybe the doctor had come in and I hadn't heard him, but then it sounded confused. I then heard my mom say my Dad's name and that she was happy that he was alright. I quickly stood to my feet and moved around the curtain.

"Daddy?" I asked.

Mom motioned for me to come over and I burst into tears as I ran over to him.

"Daddy, I'm so glad you're ok." I said.

"Me too." Dad said.

I hugged him tightly and relaxed against him for a while. I guess mom had given us a moment 'cause next thing I knew, Dad was asking for me to call her back. I stood to my feet and walked back over towards Edward and Mom. I told her Dad wanted her. Once more beside Edward, I took his hand in mine as I sat down in the chair. I talked to him a little bit before I realized how tired I was getting. I yawned and stretched with a sigh. I looked longingly at the bed and figured there was enough room for me to lie there beside him, so I climbed in. It was so warm and nice just being beside him, knowing he was breathing, I think I fell asleep as soon as I rested my head on his arm.

"Sweetheart….." I heard and frowned, but forced myself to wake up a little.

"Huh?" I asked.

"You probably can't sleep here. You have…." I heard somewhere.

"'m comfy." I murmured.

"Come on." I figured out it was mom and soon found myself out of the bed.

"Where… where we going?" I asked with a yawn.

"I'm going to have Emmett take you home so you can go to sleep in your own bed." She said.

There was a knock on the door and a nursed walked in, but I was starting to fall asleep again. Must have nodded off 'cause the next thing I knew Emmett and Bella were in front of me.

"I need you to take Alice home so that she can sleep in her own bed." Mom said.

"I don't wanna. I'm fine here. Edward needs me." I mumbled.

"I'll see that she gets home ok. We'll be back later Mom." I heard Emmett say as I started to float.

I don't remember most of the trip home, but I remember settling in my comfy bed before drifting off again.

"Alice, wake up. I want an early start to the hospital." I heard.

Frowning, confused for a second, I bolted up in bed and turned to see Emmett standing at my door.

"We're home?" I asked.

"Yeah. Got here last night, remember?" He asked a little worried.

"How did I…? Oh yeah." I started and then fell back against my pillows.

"Come on. I'm gonna call Bella and get her over here so you need to get up." He said.

"Alright." I replied and got up.

My first stop was the bathroom and a nice hot shower. I smiled excitedly as I remember getting the chance to talk to Dad. Maybe today Edward would wake up and everything would be back to normal. Or at least as normal as it could be for us. Scrubbing the last of the soap off my body, I turned off the water and dressed quickly. Forty-five minutes later, I practically ran out the bathroom and out of my room, down to the kitchen and into a chair.

"What do you want for breakfast?" Emmett asked.

"I don't care. I'll probably fix some cereal." I said.

Emmett blinked at me for a minute and then a smile cracked over his face. I blinked at him and then stood up to fix a bowl of cereal. I wasn't too sure why he was looking at me funny, but I shrugged it off as I reached the refrigerator and grabbed the milk. Pouring enough into the bowl, I replaced it where it belonged and walked back over to my chair, grabbing a spoon on the way.

"What?" I finally asked, before taking my first bite, after looking up to see him still grinning as he was at me.

"Sorry, I'm just happy to see you eating of your own free will." He said.

I raised an eyebrow and took another bite. I guess I hadn't really been eating to well. Putting it off, I finished off my bowl as the doorbell rang. I quickly placed my empty bowl and spoon into the sink and ran for the door.

"Hello Bella." I answered after seeing it was her in the peephole.

"Alice… you seem… different today." She said.

I could tell she wanted to smile, but she didn't seem to know if it was ok or not.

"I'm not sure I know what you mean." I said and smiled as I let her in.

"Hey Bella. You guys ready to go?" Emmett asked as he made his way into the living room.

"Yep." I said cheerfully.

Bella nodded.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road then." Emmett said and headed towards the garage.

We, once again, piled into his car and headed off to the hospital once he locked up the house.

**Carlisle POV**

Since I woke up, things seemed to have been getting better. That was the case for myself, at least. Edward had yet to show improvement and we were starting to get worried. It was great to see that everyone else seemed to be doing well. I took a moment to look at my wife and felt rather sorry for her. How long had she been here?

"Honey?" I called out to her.

"Hummm… yes dear?" She replied.

"Go home. You need proper rest. When was the last time you slept?" I asked.

"I don't want to leave you two. What if you need me?" She asked.

I felt bad.

"I'm sorry love." I said.

Just then Emmett, Alice, and Bella walked in.

"Hey Mom. Dad. How are you this morning?" Alice asked.

"I'm alright. Wanting your mother to go home so she can sleep in a proper bed." I said.

"Sorry Mom, but I kind of have to agree with Dad. You don't look as vibrant as you normally do. Why don't you go get some sleep. We'll be here and if anything happens will call you." Emmett said.

Esme just looked between us for a minute and then sighed in defeat.

"Alright. Fine. I know when I'm not wanted." Esme said.

"It's not a matter of wanting you or not. It's a worry for your own health." Alice said and hugged her.

Esme looked at her with a raised brow and shook her head. She then moved to Emmett and gave him a hug.

"Take care of your father and your brother." She said.

Emmett and Alice nodded. She then looked over at Bella.

"The same goes for you." Esme said before engulfing her in a hug as well.

Bella smiled and nodded her understanding.

We all waved good-bye before Esme walked out the door.

"So how are you really feeling Pops?" Emmett asked.

"I feel good, just really tired." I said with a yawn.

I hated that feeling. All I practically do while in this hospital is sleep. How could I still be tired? Of course I knew the answer, but it still sucked.

"What have you three been up to since you left yesterday?" I asked them.

"Not much." Alice answered.

"I've just been updating Charlie on what's going on." Bella answered.

"Trying to make sure Alice is taking better care of herself." Emmett responded.

"I see." I said.

"I'm glad to see you're awake and talking to us Carlisle." Bella said.

"Thank you Bella. As am I. I do apologize for the scare. I'll be sure not to do that again." I said.

Emmett and Alice shared a look, but didn't say anything. I didn't ask them about it.

"I'm gonna go check on Edward." Alice said.

"I'll go with you." Bella said.

The two of them walked off leaving Emmett and myself.

"So you're really ok now?" Emmett asked.

He had a look of worry on his face. I smiled and reached out my hand to him. He came closer and sat down in the seat his mother had been in.

"I'm really ok now." I said and rested my hand on his head.

He smiled and sighed. I knew he took after his mother in the respect of staying strong for the family, but sometimes he needed that reassurance that things were ok.

"What do they say about Edward?" He asked.

"I haven't spoken to Dr. Grayson in a while. He'll probably be coming shortly. We can ask him then." I said.

Just then a gasp was heard from one of the girls and Alice screamed.

"No Edward! Nooo!"

Emmett quickly stood up from the chair and pushed the curtain aside to see what was going on. The machines connected to Edward were going crazy and I knew something was wrong.

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><p><strong>Well... I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Let me know!<strong>


	14. Chapter 13

**Hello again all! I thank those of you that have left me message. I hope I continue to hold your interest in this story. Without further adieu...**

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><p><strong>BPV<strong>

After I drove away from the Cullen's house, I got about half way home before I just pulled over and cried. I felt so bad for the family. Why was this happening to them? I was crying with relief that Carlisle had woken up and seemed to be getting better, but Edward… that's where the problem lied. Just then my phone rang and I looked to see that it was Jacob calling. I wasn't sure what to say to him, but I figured I did own him some kind of answers.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Bella? What the hell?" He started. "I was starting to wonder if you forgot all about me, or if you were even still alive."

I rolled my eyes.

"I've been kind of busy Jacob, I'm sorry about that." I replied.

"Well what's going on?" He asked.

"It's kind of a long story, but Carlisle is awake and is doing better. We're still waiting on results for Edward. Alice is resting…" I told him.

"I see. Are you taking care of yourself? I don't want to hear that you got sick as well. Then you'd really not find any time to hangout with me." He said.

I frowned at that and sighed.

"Seriously Jake, aren't you being a little insensitive? I mean the Cullens are going through a rough time right now. I'm kind of going through a rough time right now." I said.

"I get that it's like everyone is sick Bella. Really, I do. I'm just worried that you'll end up like them and Charlie and I will have to visit you in a hospital room. You need to get some fresh air. I can only picture you've been with them in the hospital all this time just worrying. Have you even been eating?" He commented.

"Yes I have… sorta." I replied.

I could picture him giving me a look and frowned.

"Look Bella. I know you're all worried for them. I get that, but you have to worry about yourself too. Think about your other friends. I mean, think about how I'm over here suffering because I don't know what's going on. I don't hear from you for days and it just makes a person, guy, start to think bad stuff. I called Charlie and he gave me the run down, but that's gotta be something if I have to call him in order to find out about you." He continued.

I thought back to the day Charlie called me. That had to be the reason. Jake had been nagging him.

"Well I'm headed home to update Charlie." I told him.

"Good. Maybe you can take a day and rest and relax." He said.

"Yeah, maybe. It won't be tomorrow though. I'm going back to the hospital with Alice and Emmett. I promised them that I would." I said.

"Fine. Let me know when you remember you have me as well to think about." He said and hung up.

"What the heck?" I asked myself out loud. "Whatever."

I hung up the phone and placed it back in my pocket. With a sigh, I wiped my face off and made sure it was safe to merge back onto the road before I started the rest of the way to my house. Charlie's cruiser wasn't in the drive so I merely parked my truck and headed inside. I could see he hadn't been eating too well. There were pizza boxes on the counter. I sighed and shook my head before cleaning up a bit. There was a whole chicken that seemed to be thawed out so I took that out. I wasn't too sure if it'd be completely thaw out before Charlie got home, but I figured I'd try. With that, I set about cleaning the rest of the house before heading up to my room. My thoughts kept going back to Edward and how he looked laying there in the bed. I shook the image from my head and forced myself to focus on something else. I cleaned my room and realized I needed to get started on fixing the chicken. It was pretty much good, but I put it in the microwave and set the setting to thaw for a little while. Once it was to my liking. I cleaned it, put a little stuffing in it, and put it in the oven to bake. I then started to boil water for some rice and put on a pot of green beans. As there wasn't much else to do, I went back up to my room and tried to relax.

"Bella?" I heard Charlie called once he arrived home.

I had put out plates and set the table just before he came in the door.

"Hey Dad." I said.

"Smells good in here." He commented.

I smiled and pointed to the table.

"Foods ready… if you're hungry." I said.

"Yeah, let me wash up a little and I'll be right in." He said and walked off to hang up his gun and wash his hands.

I sat down at the table, but waited for him to join me before we dug in.

"So… how are the Cullens?" He asked once the dishes were done.

"Carlisle's getting better." I said.

"That's good. Er… what about… Edward?" He asked hesitantly.

I was quiet for a minute. Not really sure what to say. I didn't really want to believe it I supposed.

"Umm… he's… he's not doing too good. I mean… I guess he's still the same from when they took him into the hospital?" I managed.

My words seemed as if to make it true. I thought back to him laying in the bed, pain written all over his face and then nothing.

"I'm sorry to hear that. He'll be ok though. He's father is on the mend, he's got a loving family to support him, and he's got a good friend, you." He said.

I managed a small smile and shook my head.

"I'm going on to bed. Emmett and Alice wanted me to go to the hospital with them tomorrow morning." I said.

"Oh." Charlie said and nodded.

He got up and went over to the television. I went up to my room and got ready for bed. It wasn't long before I was asleep and waking up the next morning to a phone call.

"Hey Bella, you up? It's Emmett." Emmett said once I answered my phone.

"Hey… um… I am now." I replied.

"Oh, sorry, but I wanted to get an early start to the hospital, you know." He said.

"Yeah, sure. Give me… thirty and I'll be on my way." I said.

"Alright. See you in a bit." He said and we hung up.

I quickly got ready and headed over to the Cullens so that we could head off to the hospital.

"Hello Bella." Alice answered once I reached their house and knocked on the door.

"Alice… you seem… different today." I said.

There was something of the old Alice there and I wanted to smile, but I wasn't sure if it was ok.

"I'm not sure I know what you mean." She said and smiled before letting me enter.

"Hey Bella. You guys ready to go?" Emmett asked as he made his way into the room.

"Yep." Alice said cheerfully.

I merely nodded.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road then." Emmett said and headed towards the garage.

We got into this car and headed off for the hospital then.

Once we reached the hospital, we were bombarded with real life. There were families that had their own loved ones to worry about. Then there were nurses and doctors that were running around trying to save someone else's life. I for one was thankful that our loved ones were being taken care of, but I wished we didn't have to be here at all. We rode the elevator up to the floor that Dr. Cullen and Edward's room was on.

"Hey Mom. Dad. How are you this morning?" Alice asked.

"I'm alright. I'd wish your mother would go home so she can sleep in a proper bed." Dr. Cullen replied.

"Sorry Mom, but I kind of have to agree with Dad. You don't look as vibrant as you normally do. Why don't you go get some sleep? We'll be here and if anything happens we'll call you." Emmett said.

I noted Mrs. Cullen look at everyone for a minute and then sighed in defeat.

"Alright. Fine. I know when I'm not wanted." She said.

"It's not a matter of wanting you or not. It's a worry for your own health." Alice said and hugged her.

I looked at Alice for a minute as if to say 'and what about you? What's your excuse?' But I held my tongue.

Mrs. Cullen looked at her with a raised brow and shook her head. She then moved over to Emmett and gave him a hug.

"Take care of your father and your brother." She said.

I saw Emmett and Alice nod before she looked over at me.

"The same goes for you." She said before engulfing me in a hug as well.

I smiled and nodded her understanding. We all waved good-bye as she walked out the door.

"So how are you really feeling Pops?" Emmett asked.

"I feel good, just really tired." Dr. Cullen said with a yawn. "What have you three been up to since you left yesterday?"

"Not much." Alice answered.

"I've just been updating Charlie on what's going on." I replied.

"Trying to make sure Alice is taking better care of herself." Emmett responded.

"I see." Dr. Cullen said.

"I'm glad to see you're awake and talking to us Carlisle." I said.

"Thank you Bella. As am I. I do apologize for the scare. I'll be sure not to do that again." He said.

Emmett and Alice shared a look , but didn't say anything. I looked at them for a minute, wondering what that was about.

"I'm gonna go check on Edward." Alice said.

"I'll go with you." I said.

The two of us walked off leaving Emmett and Dr. Cullen to their own thoughts.

Alice took one side of the bed and I took the other. We just looked at Edward for a minute, not saying anything.

"Oh Edward…" Alice said.

I merely kept quiet as I looked at him, wishing he would open those beautiful green eyes of his and smile that smile that said everything was alright. Instead, I took in how semi relaxed he was and how pale he looked. I frowned at that and then gasped when I noticed his chest wasn't moving as it should be. Had he stopped breathing?

Alice screamed.

"No Edward! Nooo!"

Emmett then came around the curtain and moved it aside. Next then I knew, the machines hooked up to Edward were going crazy.

"What the heck's going?" Emmett questioned.

"He's not breathing! OMG! He's not breathing!" Alice continued to scream.

I quickly ran from the room in search of a doctor or nurse. They had been quickly coming towards me, so I moved out of the way so that they could do their job. Emmett was practically manhandling Alice out of the room so that they could help Edward.

"No! Edward! What are you doing Emmett? Let me go! He needs me!" Alice screamed.

"Calm down Alice! All your screaming is not helping right now, ok? Let the doctor work. They can't do that if you're in the way." Emmett said.

After a while, Alice stopped struggling and fell limp in Emmett's arms, sobbing. I looked at the two of them and hadn't realized I had tears of my own falling down my face.

"Bella…" Emmett started and held a hand out to me.

I quickly ran over to him and cried on his shoulder. I felt him lay his chin on top of my head and distinctly remember hearing a few sniffles. What was going on in there? Why hadn't they let us back in yet?

"Please Edward. Please." I said softly.

I felt sorry for Emmett, so I forced myself to pull it together and moved towards the seats they had. Emmett carried Alice over to them and we all sat down, waiting.

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><p><strong>Well, leave me a review if you like. Hopefully you won't have to wait as long for the next chapter. Sorry bout that. ^_^;;<strong>


	15. Chapter 14

**Well hello again. I certainly hope you've all be well. I thank those of you that are still leaving me review and still taking the time to read my story. Thank you! Here the awaited chapter 14.**

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><p><strong>Emmett's POV<strong>

After getting Alice to bed alright and seeing Bella to the door and watching her leave, I sighed before making sure everything was locked and then headed to bed myself. I was really tired, but I hardly thought I'd fall asleep. Waking up the next morning, I was surprised and blinked a couple times before getting up. I headed up to Alice's room to wake her up.

"Alice, wake up. I want an early start to the hospital." I said.

I watched her to make sure she was awake and getting up.

"We're home?" She asked.

"Yeah. Got here last night, remember?" I asked a little worried.

"How did I…? Oh yeah." She started and fell back against her pillows.

"Come on. I'm gonna call Bella and get her over here, so you need to get up." I said.

"Alright." She replied and got up.

I left her room and headed back down to mine so that I could get in a quick shower and get dressed. It didn't take me long. I reached for my phone and called Bella.

"Hey Bella, you up? It's Emmett." I said when she answered.

"Hey…um…I am now." She replied.

I could hear the sleep in her voice and smiled.

"Oh, sorry, but I wanted to get an early start to the hospital, you know." I told her.

"Yeah, sure. Give me… thirty and I'll be on my way." She said.

"Alright. See you in a bit." I said and we hung up.

I'd finished the call with her and headed to the kitchen

"What do you want for breakfast?" I asked once I saw Alice.

"I don't care. I'll probably fix some cereal." She replied.

I blinked at her for a minute and then a smile cracked over my face. She looked at me, but then went to fix herself a bowl of cereal. I was staring a bit, but I was just happy.

"What?" She finally asked.

"Sorry, I'm just happy to see you eating of your own free will." I told her.

She looked at me funny, but shrugged it off. I set about making my own breakfast when the doorbell rang. Alice put her bowl in the sink and went off to answer it. I figured it was Bella so I quickly finished my bowl of cereal. I put the bowl in the sink and headed out of the kitchen.

"Hey Bella. You guys ready to go?" I asked as I made my way into the living room.

"Yep." Alice answered.

Bella just nodded.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road then." I said and headed towards the garage.

We got in my car again and headed to the hospital after I locked the door.

Keeping my eyes on the prize, we got inside the hospital and managed to get into an elevator that wasn't too crowded that would take us up to Dad, Edward, and Mom. We had just walked off the elevator and towards the room, only to open the door and see Mom not as smiley as I know her to be.

"Hey Mom. Dad. How are you this morning?" Alice asked before I could ask what was wrong.

"I'm alright. I'd wish your mother would go home so she can sleep in a proper bed." Dad responded.

_Oh._

"Sorry Mom, but I kind of have to agree with Dad. You don't look as vibrant as you normally do. Why don't you go get some sleep? We'll be here and if anything happens we'll call you." I told her.

She looked at us and then sighed.

"Alright. Fine. I know when I'm not wanted." Mom said.

"It's not a matter of wanting you or not. It's a worry for your own health." Alice said and hugged her.

I saw Mom give her a look, but I gave Alice a look too. Then she shook her head and came over to give me a hug.

"Take care of your father and your brother." She said.

I nodded along with Alice. Then Mom looked over at Bella.

"The same goes for you." She said and gave her a hug too.

I smiled. Bella smiled and nodded her understanding.

We all waved good-bye before Mom walked out the door.

"So how are you really feeling Pops?" I asked.

"I feel good, just really tired." He answered with a yawn.

"What have you three been up to since you left yesterday?" Dad asked.

"Not much." Alice responded.

"I've just been updating Charlie on what's going on." Bella answered.

"Trying to make sure Alice is taking better care of herself." I said.

"I see." Dad said.

"I'm glad to see you're awake and talking to us Carlisle." Bella said.

"Thank you Bella. As am I. I do apologize for the scare. I'll be sure not to do that again." Dad replied.

Me and Alice shared a look, but didn't say anything.

"I'm gonna go check on Edward." Alice said.

"I'll go with you." Bella said.

Seeing as it was just me and Dad, I figured I could really talk to him, man to man.

"So you're really ok now?" I asked him as I moved closer and took the seat Mom had been in.

I was really worried. I mean, I wasn't ready to take on being 'Man of the house' just yet. Those would be some huge shoes to fill.

"I'm really ok now." He replied and rested his hand on my head.

I smiled and sighed.

"What do they say about Edward?" I asked.

"I haven't spoken to Dr. Grayson in a while. He'll probably be coming shortly. We can ask him then." Dad replied.

Just then Alice screamed and I stood up to see what was going on.

"No Edward! Nooo!"

I stood up and moved the curtain aside. The machines connected to Edward were going crazy.

"What the heck's going on?" I asked.

"He's not breathing! OMG! He's not breathing!" Alice continued to scream.

I watched Bella run off for a minute before I moved Alice out of the way and started CPR. I breathed two breaths into Edward's mouth and then pressed down on his chest. I got about four rounds in him before a doctor and nurses ran into the room. I had to manhandle Alice out of the room so that they could get to Edward.

"No! Edward! What are you doing Emmett? Let me go! He needs me!" Alice screamed.

"Calm down Alice! All your screaming is not helping right now, Ok? Let the doctor work. They can't do that if you're in the way." I told her.

After a while, Alice stopped struggling and fell limp in my arms, sobbing. I noticed Bella look at the two of us and had tears falling down her face.

"Bella…" I started and then held a hand out for her to take.

She quickly ran over to me and cried on my shoulder. I laid my chin on top of her head and couldn't help a few sniffles.

"Please Edward. Please." I heard Bella say softly.

I ended up carrying Alice and walking Bella over to the seats that were available. We all sat down just waiting for any news we could get on Edward.

"Come on man. What are you trying to do to us?" I asked.

"Should we call Mom?" Alice asked.

I stiffened at the question. She had just left not too long ago. Did we really want her to turn around and come right back after all it took to get her to leave?

"We did promise her." Alice said.

I sighed. I wasn't sure what to do. I scratched the back of my head and sighed again.

"We probably should, but I think I'd rather wait until we have more to tell her than Edward's pining for attention again." I said.

Alice punched me in the arm and I jerked away from her.

"Sorry! I was trying to lighten the mood. Sheesh!" I said while rubbing my arm.

"That wasn't funny!" She yelled as she got off my lap.

She quickly ran off to where I hope the restrooms were. I looked at Bella and sighed. She stood up and hugged me.

"It's ok Emmett. I'll go get her. You make sure to tell us if we miss anything." She said and took off after Alice.

I watched as she left and then looked back at the door that held both my Father and little brother. I wasn't sure what else to do, so I closed my eyes and bowed my head. It'd been a long time since I even thought of praying, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try.

"Umm… I haven't really… umm… done this… in a long time? So umm… here goes. I know you got the power to take life and all, but umm… do you think you could spare my little brother? I mean… he can be a pain some of the time… ok most of the time, but he's still my little brother. Maybe you could… I don't know… help him? He's been through so much as it is. I mean… we all have. I guess that's it. Oh and thanks for helping my Dad. Amen." I finished.

Looking up I saw a nurse standing in front of me and I jumped up to my feet.

"Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt." She said.

"Oh, it's cool. Umm… so what's… what's the word?" I asked her.

"We…" She started, but wasn't able to continue at the sound of footsteps quickly making their way towards us.

I turned to see who they belonged to at the same time she turned her attention to him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked surprised.

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><p><strong>Huh, I wonder what the nurse was going to say. Gee, I wonder who the mystery person is. Guess we'll have to wait. Until next time...<strong>


	16. Chapter 15

****Hello Everyone. I hope I found you all well. Here's the next chapter in this story. I hope you'll enjoy it and let me know whether you do or don't. Onto the story...****

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><p><strong>Edward's POV<strong>

"Watch your mouth young man." Grandma said.

"Whoops! Sorry Grandma. I'm just… shocked to see you. What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Well, I thought it'd be easier for me to talk to you than someone else, but if that's not the case…" She said and started to fade away.

"Wait! No! I'm sorry. This is all… wait… does this mean I'm dead?" I asked her with wide eyes.

"No sweetheart, you're not dead. You're in between." She said.

"In… between?" I asked.

"Yes dear. Here one has the chance to go back over ones life and see what all could've, or should've, been done differently." She replied.

"Oh. I see." I said.

She merely nodded and stood there.

"So… what do we do now?" I asked.

"That's actually up to you." She said.

I frowned at that confused.

"I thought you were going to show me my past or something. Like in 'A Christmas Carol'."

She giggled at that and I raised an eyebrow. My grandma just giggled? Like a little school girl? Whoa. I blinked a few times in surprised and she laughed a little harder.

"Sorry sweetie. It's nothing like that. I'm just here to lend an ear." She told me.

I sighed and looked around.

"So what's with all these headstones?" I asked.

"This is your creation." She replied.

My eyes grew wide and I blinked at her.

"You're trying to tell me I have a morbid sense of death? Huh, I guess I do." I said mostly to myself.

She merely shook her head and chuckled again.

"I missed this. Your spunk and quick wit remarks between your brother and yourself." She sighed sadly and looked back at me.

"I miss you too Grandma." I said and froze before rubbing my side. "Ow."

I tried to take a step to continue walking, but the pain soon became too great.

"Grandma? What is this?" I turned to ask her, but she was gone and the blackness was engulfing me once more. "Grandma? Grandma where are you?"

"It's alright Edward. You're alright. We almost lost you there for a minute." I heard.

"Huh?" I questioned.

"It would seem the nurse gave you the wrong medicine." Someone said.

I could only blink in confusion, but I was really tired so I closed my eyes and fell back into the darkness.

**Carlisle POV**

"What the heck's going on?" I heard Emmett ask.

"He's not breathing! OMG! He's not breathing!" I heard Alice scream.

I nearly fell out of the bed trying to get up, but then I saw Bella run out the door. It didn't take long for a few nurses and a doctor to run back into the room. I was momentarily stunned.

"_He's not breathing!"_ Those words kept running over and over in my head.

My Edward wasn't breathing. I started praying and hoping that he'd be alright.

"No! Edward! What are you doing Emmett? Let me go! He needs me!" I heard Alice screaming as Emmett took out of the room.

"Calm down Alice! All you're screaming is not helping right now, ok? Let the doctor work. They can't do that if you're in the way." Emmett told her and the door closed.

After a while I hadn't heard anything except the nurses and the doctor calling out things to do. That brought me back to what was going on.

"What's happening? What's going on with my son?" I called out as I got to my feet.

"Dr. Cullen, hold on. We're doing everything we can." One of the nurses said while holding me back.

For all I knew she was actually holding me up as I hadn't been doing anything but sleeping for the last few days and the fact that my son was in trouble wasn't news I needed to hear. No parent wanted to hear that their child had stopped breathing.

"We got him!" I heard Patrick say. "It's alright Edward. You're alright. We almost lost you there for a minute."

"Huh?"

My eyes grew wide as I heard my son whisper the question.

"It would seem the nurse gave you the wrong medicine." Patrick explained.

I didn't hear anything from Edward after that.

"It's ok Carlisle. We got him." Patrick said as he stood in front of me.

I guess the nurse that was in front of me had gone. With that, what little strength I had left me as well and I was soon falling to the floor.

"Whoa. Come now Carlisle. Let's get you back in your bed. I'm sure all of this is over whelming, but he'll be alright. That's the important part." Patrick was telling me.

I could only nod as I choked back a sob.

"_He'll be alright."_ I heard echoing in my head.

I took a deep breath and released it before I felt my legs hit the bed. My knees bent automatically and I looked up at Patrick.

"He's… he's going to be ok." I asked slash stated.

Patrick smiled and nodded.

"Yes. Yes he will." He said.

I swallowed and allowed a smile to come to my lips before I turned my attention to the curtains that were being pushed back and there I saw him, my son Edward. As pale as he was, the heart monitor told me he was still here with us.

"Thank you." Was all I could manage.

Patrick rested a hand on my shoulder as he and the nurses left. I went to stand up again, but my knees locked and I was back down on the bed. I took a couple of deep breaths before I attempted to stand again and this time succeeded. I walked over towards the chair that had been at my son's bedside and moved it closer before I took a seat. I merely looked at him for a few moments. I watched as his chest rose and fell before repeating the process over again. I looked at the heart monitor to see that his heart was still beating. I raised a hand to his forehead and let it rest there a minute.

"You're going to be alright son." I said and smiled.

Pulling my hand away, I gently laid my head on the space by his shoulder and rested my eyes a minute. My heart had gotten back to normal after the scare and I thanked the man up above for hearing my prayers.

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><p><strong>Poor Edward. That's rather scary. Getting dosed with the wrong meds. I also feel sorry for Carlisle having to go through all this. Until next time...<strong>


	17. Chapter 16

**Sorry for the long wait, here's the next chapter.**

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><p><strong>Esme's POV<strong>

"Honey?" I heard.

"Hummm… yes dear?" I replied.

"Go home. You need proper rest. When was the last time you slept?" Carlisle asked.

"I don't want to leave you two. What if you need me?" I asked.

"I'm sorry love." He responded.

That threw me off for a moment, but then Emmett, Alice, and Bella walked in.

"Hey Mom. Dad. How are you this morning?" Alice asked.

"I'm alright. Wanting your mother to go home so she can sleep in a proper bed." Carlisle said.

"Sorry Mom, but I kind of have to agree with Dad. You don't look as vibrant as you normally do. Why don't you go get some sleep. We'll be here and if anything happens will call you." Emmett said.

I just looked between them for a minute and then sighed in defeat.

"Alright. Fine. I know when I'm not wanted." I said.

"It's not a matter of wanting you or not. It's a worry for your own health." Alice said and hugged me.

I looked at her with a raised brow and shook my head while thinking how she was one to talk. I then moved to Emmett and gave him a hug.

"Take care of your father and your brother." I said.

Emmett and Alice nodded. I looked over at Bella afterwards.

"The same goes for you." I said before engulfing her in a hug as well.

Bella smiled and nodded her understanding.

They all waved good-bye before I walked out the door.

"Call me if there's any change!" I said before closing the door.

I could only hope that everyone would be alright. Even I had to admit that I was feeling a bit tired. Yawning as I made my way through the halls and down towards the car, I thought about whether I wanted to get something to eat, or to head straight to bed. I figured I'd do the latter and climbed into the car and headed for home. I parked in the garage and made my way inside the house. I sighed for a moment as I took in the fact that I was here alone. Making my way through the living room and up towards the stairs, I climbed them and made my way into my bedroom. I placed my purse on the dresser along side my keys that I had just dropped and kicked off my shoes before I sat down on the edge of my side of the bed. I felt like I could've just fallen back and gone to sleep just like that, but I didn't think I'd be too happy about sleeping in my clothes. I forced myself to get up and I managed to get comfortable and then went back over to the bed. I must have been tired because the next thing I knew, I was asleep.

...

**Alice's POV**

Just then Emmett, Bella, and I walked in.

"Hey Mom. Dad. How are you this morning?" I asked.

"I'm alright. Wanting your mother to go home so she can sleep in a proper bed." Dad said.

"Sorry Mom, but I kind of have to agree with Dad. You don't look as vibrant as you normally do. Why don't you go get some sleep. We'll be here and if anything happens will call you." Emmett said.

Mom just looked between us for a minute and then sighed in defeat.

"Alright. Fine. I know when I'm not wanted." She said.

"It's not a matter of wanting you or not. It's a worry for your own health." I said and hugged her.

Mom looked at me with a raised brow and shook her head. She then moved to Emmett and gave him a hug.

"Take care of your father and your brother." She said.

Emmett and I nodded. She then looked over at Bella.

"The same goes for you." Esme said before engulfing her in a hug as well.

Bella smiled and nodded her understanding.

We all waved good-bye before Mom walked out the door.

"So how are you really feeling Pops?" Emmett asked.

"I feel good, just really tired." Dad said with a yawn. "What have you three been up to since you left yesterday?" He asked.

"Not much." I answered.

"I've just been updating Charlie on what's going on." Bella answered.

"Trying to make sure Alice is taking better care of herself." Emmett responded.

"I see." Dad said.

I gave Emmett a glare.

"I'm glad to see you're awake and talking to us Carlisle." Bella said.

"Thank you Bella. As am I. I do apologize for the scare. I'll be sure not to do that again." Dad said.

Emmett and I shared a look, but didn't say anything.

"I'm gonna go check on Edward." I said.

"I'll go with you." Bella said.

The two of us walked off leaving Emmett and Dad to catch up.

I took one side of the bed and Bella took the other. We just sorta looked at Edward for a minute, not really saying anything.

"Oh Edward…" I said finally breaking the silence.

Bella didn't say anything. I could hear Emmett and Dad talking a little, but my focus was on Edward. I reached across and ran my hand over his forehead to move a bit of his hair away. He just looked so… still. A little too still if you asked me. I frowned and then really looked at him. His chest wasn't moving so I screamed.

"No Edward! Nooo!"

Emmett then came around the curtain and moved it aside. Next then I knew, the machines hooked up to Edward were going off.

"What the heck's going?" Emmett questioned.

"He's not breathing! OMG! He's not breathing!" I continued to scream.

I saw Bella run from the room, but I didn't know where she was going. Then I thought maybe to look for a doctor or nurse.

"Edward!" I yelled again.

Emmett then grabbed me and started pulling me out of the room so that the doctors and nurses could get to Edward, but I wasn't in my right mind.

"No! Edward! What are you doing Emmett? Let me go! He needs me!" I screamed.

"Calm down Alice! All your screaming is not helping right now, ok? Let the doctor work. They can't do that if you're in the way." Emmett said.

After a while, I stopped struggling and fell limp in Emmett's arms, sobbing.

"Bella…" I heard Emmett say.

I felt as another source of warmth pressed against me, but I just continued to cry. I barely noticed as Emmett carried me over to some chairs and we all sat down, waiting for some news on Edward.

"Come on man. What are you trying to do to us?" I heard asked Emmett ask.

"Should we call Mom?" I asked.

I didn't get a response right away.

"We did promise her." I said.

Emmett sighed. I just kept looking at him as if he held all the answers at that moment.

"We probably should, but I think I'd rather wait until we have more to tell her than Edward's pining for attention again." He said.

I punched him in the arm and glared at him.

"Sorry! I was trying to lighten the mood. Sheesh!" He said while rubbing his arm.

Good it hurt.

"That wasn't funny!" I yelled as I got off my lap.

The jerk! I quickly ran off. I wasn't sure where I was going. I couldn't believe Emmett had just said that. Part of me wanted to go back and punch him again. Here Edward was, going through a hard time, and Emmett was making sick jokes. They certainly weren't funny. Especially at a time like this. I didn't care if that was his fall back method, Edward was fighting for his life for crying out loud. Speaking of crying out loud, I had once again found myself in tears as I practically found a wall and slid down it as I couldn't see around my tears to keep going.

"Oh Edward." I sobbed.

I drew my knees up and placed my head on them. This was really hard. I wanted to call Mom, but Emmett did have a point, we should probably wait until we had something better to tell her. I felt someone sit beside me and didn't have to pick my head up to know who it was.

"I'm sorry Bella, but that wasn't funny. Not one bit." I said.

"You're right. It wasn't, but you know how Emmett is." She said quietly.

Yeah, I knew, but that didn't make it right.

"What are we going to do Bella? I can't loose him. We can't." I said and I wiped at my tears after pulling my head up to look at her.

"I'm not sure. Only thing I can think of is to keep hoping and waiting to see." She said as she placed an arm around me.

I leaned against her shoulder and sighed.

"I hope he's ok. I don't know what we'd do if we lost him. We better start heading back. There's a chance the nurse or doctor could be back with news" I said then forced myself to my feet.

Bella nodded and stood with me. We headed back to where we'd left Emmett. We turned the corner just in time.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I looked at Emmett before turning to the person the question was addressed to.

I frowned in confusion.

"Jacob?" I asked as I walked towards the group of a nurse, Emmett, and Jacob.

"Jacob? What **are** you doing here?" Bella asked.

"Geez, I couldn't get a hold of you so I came down here to find out for myself what was going on. See if maybe I could help." Jacob stated.

I merely looked on at the two of them before turning my attention to the nurse.

"Is there any word?" I asked.

"Oh, that's what I came out here to tell you. Edward's going to be fine. He opened his eyes for a little while, but then he went to sleep." She said.

I merely looked at her and felt tears run down my cheeks. 'He was going to be fine.'

"He's going to be fine." I said and looked at Emmett and then Bella.

"That's wonderful Alice." Bella said with a smile as she wiped away a tear.

"Can we go see him?" I asked.

"I'm sure he needs the rest, but if you're quiet you can visit him." The nurse replied.

"You guys go ahead. I'm gonna call Mom." Emmett said.

I didn't hesitate as I practically ran to the room door and opened it. I looked over towards my Dad's bed, but saw that it was empty. That made me frown for a minute, but I quickly moved on towards Edward's bed. I took one look at my Dad and gave a slight smile.

"He's gonna be fine."

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><p><strong>Yay! Edward's going to be fine! Thank you for reading this chapter!<strong>


	18. Chapter 17

**Alright everyone. Here's the last chapter. I want to thank everyone that took the time to even read this story let alone those of you that left me reviews. Thank you so much! It's not totally how I wanted to go out, but... I like it. So, here you go.**

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><p>Everyone else in the group of Emmett, Bella, and Jacob, heard the news about Edward and quickly rushed to see for themselves. Jacob and Bella stayed behind a bit as to give the family a moment.<p>

"Maybe this would be the time to call your mom and let her know that Edward's going to be ok?" Bella suggested once she walked further into the room.

"Yeah, I just wanted to make sure," Emmett turned to look at Bella then. "don't want to give her false hope or anything. You know?"

Bella nodded and turned her attention back to Edward before sighing and heading out the room once more. Jacob followed and stood waiting for her to say something. Tears had managed to cling to her eyelashes as Bella stared down at her feet before taking a deep breath and looking to Jacob.

"So, you gonna explain what you're really doing here?" She asked.

Jacob merely swallowed and moved towards her.

"I wanted to get first hand experience as to what was going on. This whole, leaving Charlie and me in the dark for, who knows how long, was getting kind of old." He responded.

Bella looked at him for a minute and then turned her attention to the door behind him.

"What am I going to do now?"

Jacob raised an eyebrow for a minute.

"What are you going to do about what?"

"Obviously about Edward, what am I suppose to do now that he's fine?"

"I would assume go back to the way things were. Friends?"

Jacob said and moved closer towards her.

"That'll give us time to find out how we really feel about each other."

Bella frowned at that and backed away.

"Jacob, we already know how we feel about each other. I only see you as a friend. I don't see anything else between us."

"You haven't even given it a thought."

"Jake, I don't have to. We both know that for whatever reason, I practically love Edward. The idiot he is and the jerk he tries to be."

Jacob looked at her and frowned.

"You can't be serious. Look at all he's put his family and you through. Why would you want to stay with him? It's not like he can do much to make you happy. This whole time you've been running to me to help you get through this. Come on Bella, don't kid yourself. You'd sooner come to me with problems than to go to him."

"Jake, that may be true, but that just proves how much I think of you as a friend. I don't think I could ever go to you as a girlfriend, that'd just be too weird for the both of us."

Shaking her head, Bella moved away from the room and took a seat in one of the chairs that were available.

"Bella… please."

Jake followed her and sat down beside her, still trying to convince her of what they could be.

"I'm sorry Jacob, but I can't."

With that, Bella stood to her feet and turned to see Mrs. Cullen quickly making her way towards the room.

"Emmett called, is it true? Is Edward… alright?"

Bella smiled for her and nodded her head.

"Yes, Edward's going to be fine."

With that clarification, Mrs. Cullen grabbed Bella in a strong hold and hugged her tightly.

"Thank you for being there Bella. Thank you so much."

Bella could feel the tears of Mrs. Cullen fall onto her shoulder.

"Come on Mrs. Cullen, I'm sure you want to see him for yourself. I'll see you later Jake."

With that, Bella lead Mrs. Cullen towards the room and allowed her to enter first before she looked back over her shoulder to see the saddened face of Jacob Black as he left the hall in search of an elevator.

"I love Edward too much and his family is practically mine. Who else would I rather be with? We have our ups and our downs, but that's what you go through sometimes. I'm sorry Jake, but thank you for helping me to see where my true feelings lie."

She watched him until she couldn't see him any more and then she turned her attention back to the ones that needed it. She quietly walked up to the bed and looked down at Edward.

"Hi." He said gently.

"Hi." She responded.

The family stood around them and shared glances amongst each other before turning their attention back to Edward and Bella.

"I'm glad you're alright son." Dr. Cullen remarked.

Edward blushed and took the time to look at all his family. He was saddened at what he put them through, but he was glad to have them.

*****2 Months Later**…***

"Dad?"

"Yes Edward?"

"I think something's wrong."

"What do you mean son?"

He quickly turned his attention from his work to his son and then stood to move around his desk.

"My… my legs hurt."

Edward looked up at his father and slowly smiled. Carlisle looked down at his son and slowly smiled back.

"Let's go see what's wrong."

Not wanting to alarm the rest of the family, Carlisle told his wife what was going on and then gathered Edward up and into the car, headed off to the hospital. Tests were run and Dr. Grayson was making his way to Edward's room with the tests results.

"Alright gentlemen. I have the results of the tests. It's as you believed Carlisle, the swelling has gone down and the nerves are processing as they once were. Won't be too long now and you'll be able to walk again." He said with a smile. "You'll need physical therapy, but I'm sure you won't give them too much trouble.

"You hear that son? You'll be walking again."

"Thanks Dad. Thanks Dr. Grayson."

"No problem you two. I'll leave you to celebrate and see if we can't get a PT in here to talk to you."

"Edward…"

Carlisle wasn't too sure what to say, but he figured he didn't have to say anything.

"It's ok Dad. I know and I'm sorry. Can we… hold off telling everyone else? I kinda want it to be a surprise."

"I don't know, son. You know how your mother will worry. I can't exactly tell her nothing."

"It's not so much not telling her anything. You could just tell her… they need to take more tests?"

"I don't want to lie to your mother, son. I'll see what I can do to hold her off while you work on physical training."

Edward nodded and turned his attention to the door when it opened.

"I'm here to talk to you about your physical therapy."

Edward nodded and the three of them talked until every question was asked and answered, and every concern was taken care of. Once Edward started, there was no going back, not that he wanted to, and he did what he was supposed to as well as a little more when no one was looking. Soon, days turned into the weeks, weeks turned in to a few months and Edward had been doing so well, he was ready to take on the world. He wasn't sure what story his dad came up with to tell his family, but when they showed up to take him home, he was all smiles.

"Edward! I was so worried. What kind of tests were they taking?"

Sitting in the wheel chair, he rolled himself towards them with a smile.

"It was hard, but I guess they finally said I was sane enough to go home."

"Oh, well…"

Edward laughed a little, but sighed.

"Can we go home now? I'm kind of tired."

"Sure Dear."

Edward looked over at his dad and smiled.

The car ride was a quiet one, except for Alice's ideal chitchat. Once they pulled up to the house, Emmett made to get Edward's chair out of the trunk.

"It's ok Emmett, I don't need that."

With a wink to his dad, he stood up and got out of the car. He walked over to the front door and waited.

"Someone gonna unlock this? I don't have my key on me."

Everyone was in shock, except Dr. Cullen.

"Edward… you can walk. You weren't really at the hospital for a psych evaluation… "

"Nope Mom, I was relearning to walk."

"Oh my baby!"

She ran over to him and hugged him tightly. He could only take it for so long.

"Come on Mom. You gotta let me go. The neighbors my see."

He and his siblings laughed before they moved in to hug him too. He smiled at his Dad again before the family moved inside. Alice called Bella over with great news, but wouldn't tell her what the news was.

"Hello? Anyone home?" She asked once she arrived at the Cullens.

"Oh Bella, I'm glad you could make it so quickly. We're in the living room."

Bella heard Alice say and moved into the house. She blinked as she saw everyone sitting around.

"What's going on? Is everything alright? Where's Edward?"

"Right here."

Bella turned her attention behind her and saw Edward standing there. Her eyes grew large and she brought her hands up to her face, in shock, around her mouth.

"Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh!"

She ran over to him and hugged him tightly.

"Edward! You're standing and walking!"

"Yep, that I am."

"Oh my gosh!"

Edward could only laugh at her reaction before he turned serious.

"Thank you Bella, for being there for my family and for me."

"I'm glad I could be."

Edward took her hands in his own before looking down at them and then bringing his face back up to hers.

"I really mean it Bella, thank you. You were there when I didn't think I needed you and you helped take the pain away. I love you and I can only hope you'll forgive me."

"Of course and I love you too."

That said, the two of them smiled and turned to see his family had mysteriously disappeared. They laughed and he took her to go find them.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you again!<strong>


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